FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The Fulton County district attorney has sent a letter to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger requesting that he preserve documents relating to an explosive phone call with former President Donald Trump for a criminal investigation.
Channel 2 Action News first reported that Fulton County DA Fani Willis was considering the charges back in January. Earlier this week, we told you Raffensperger had begun an investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the state’s election results.
On Wednesday, Channel 2′s Justin Gray learned Fani Willis is looking into possible charges of conspiracy, racketeering and other violations.
what IS new is what @nytimes first reports about letters being sent to state officials asking to preserve evidence. I just viewed a letter from Fulton DA sent to a senior elected official that lists 6 potential charges she's investigating including conspiracy & racketeering
— Justin Gray (@JustinGrayWSB) February 10, 2021
In the letter, Willis asked Raffensperger to preserve all records related to the president during the 2020 general election. Legal analyst Esther Panich said the letter is meant to put everyone on alert.
“I’m not issuing subpoenas yet, the grand jury doesn’t meet until March, but I’m advising you right now, to please hold on to all your records in case we need them and if we need them we will issue subpoenas through a grand jury,” Panitch said.
[LISTEN: Full audio recording of call between Trump, Raffensperger]
Channel 2′s Dave Huddleston spoke to Willis on Wednesday, who said no one is above the law, even the president.
“It’s a very simple equation. We’re going to look at the law and we’re going to look at the facts,” Willis said. “Should we find that anyone violated the law, then we’re going to make a charging decision.”
In that January phone call, Trump asked Raffensperger to “find” more than 11,000 votes to help overturn the election in Georgia.
“So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,” Trump says.
Several White House staff members and Raffensperger’s lawyer were also on the call, but on the vast majority of the recording, Trump does the talking. The call begins with a 12-minute monologue from Trump about why he believes he won in Georgia.
[READ: Trump pressured Raffensperger to overturn election results in phone call, recordings reveal]
There are times, however, when Raffensperger pushes back against the President.
“You should want to have an accurate election, and you’re a Republican,” Trump says in one exchange.
“We believe we have an accurate election,” Raffensperger says.
And later:
“Well, Mr. President... the data that you have is wrong,” Raffensperger said.
[SPECIAL SECTION: Election 2020]
“The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated,” Trump fires back.
Panitch said if Trump is found guilty of breaking election laws, there’s very little Gov. Brian Kemp could about it.
“The governor has no power to issue pardons at all in this state,” Panitch said.
But there is an exception. Georgia has a pardons and parole board that could make that decision.
Willis said the grand jury is due to convene sometime next month when subpoenas could be requested.
Cox Media Group
