Trump Facing 5 - 20 Years In Georgia Case | Fani Willis

District attorney in Georgia election case against Trump and others seeks protections for jurors
KATE BRUMBACK | Associated Press
Thu, September 7, 2023 at 9:07 AM MDT

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia prosecutor who has brought charges accusing former President Donald Trump and others of illegally trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state is asking the judge in the case to take steps to protect jurors.

The preemptory step by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis comes after the grand jurors who returned the 41-count indictment against Trump and 18 others were subjected to harassment when their information was posted online. It's a reflection of the highly polarized feelings surrounding the criminal cases against the former president.

Willis wrote in a motion filed Wednesday that the grand jurors' information was posted “with the intent to harass and intimidate them." Additionally, the motion said, the personal information of Willis, a Black woman, and that of her family and staff have been posted online ”intertwined with derogatory and racist remarks."

News cameras are frequently allowed in the courtroom for trial proceedings in Georgia, but video and still photographers are regularly instructed not to show images of the jury. During the jury selection process, the prospective jurors are typically referred to by number rather than by name.

Willis is asking Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to prohibit defendants, the news media or anyone else from creating or publishing images — including video, photos and drawings — of jurors or prospective jurors. She is also asking that the judge prohibit the publication of any information that would help identify them, “specifically physical descriptions, telephone numbers, addresses, employer names and membership affiliations."

Legal experts have said it's standard for indictments in Georgia to include the names of the grand jurors, in part because it provides defendants the opportunity to challenge the composition of the grand jury. So the names of the 23 grand jurors who heard the district attorney's evidence and voted to approve charges were included on the indictment. They immediately became the victims of “doxxing,” which is short for “dropping dox” or documents, and refers to the online posting of information about someone, generally in an attempt to harass, threaten, shame or exact revenge.

It is “clearly foreseeable” that that would happen to trial jurors if their names were made public, and that could jeopardize their “ability to decide the issues before them impartially and without outside influence,” affecting the defendants' right to a fair and impartial jury, Willis argued.

Attached to Willis' motion were sworn statements from Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum and an investigator in Willis' office.

Schierbaum said that listings of the grand jurors' information “called for harassment and violence against the grand jurors" and that his department worked with the Fulton County Sheriff's Office and other local law enforcement agencies to ensure safety measures were put in place to protect them. Those efforts “require a significant devotion of our capacity and represent a strain on law enforcement resources to allow them to complete their civic duty without being subjected to unnecessary danger.”

Information about Willis and the grand jurors was posted on the dark web, a part of the internet hosted within an encrypted network and accessible only through specialized tools that provide anonymity, district attorney's investigator Gerald Walsh wrote.

The site where the information was posted is hosted in Russia and is known by federal authorities to be “uncooperative with law enforcement.” Users who post on that site have made similar posts about other prosecutors, judges, federal employees and their families in other states as well, Walsh wrote.

DA Fani Willis’ Case Against Trump Could Be ‘Blown Apart’: Experts
Jon Dougherty, September 11, 2023

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is likely in for a rough time after claiming she wants to put former President Donald Trump and the 18 other co-defendants on trial at the same time next month in a massive post-2020 election racketeering case filed in August.

After suggesting that her office will be ready to begin the trial on Oct. 23, Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, who were indicted with him, have petitioned a court to have their cases severed from the others and tried separately.

Newsweek noted: “On Wednesday, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee will oversee a hearing on whether Chesebro and Powell can have their cases tried independently. Judge McAfee has asked Willis’ office to prove a good faith estimate on how long it may take to present the state’s case during a joint trial of all 19 defendants, as well as the number of witnesses likely to be called and the size of the evidence likely to be introduced.”

“In a series of posts on X, formerly Twitter, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman suggested that Willis will have a problem either way with an estimate, seeing as her previous major RICO trial involving dozens of educators in Atlanta accused of cheating on standardized tests lasted several months,” the outlet added.

“If Willis comes in with an estimate along the lines of previous trials—8 months or more—it will basically blow to smithereens the scheduling of the various trials,” Litman wrote. “And hard to see how she can provide a ‘good-faith’ estimate that’s way lower than the previous RICO.

“Recall that the best precedent—RICO for teachers—took some 8 months to try (and months before to pick a jury). If she gives a similar estimate, everything gets blown apart; if she doesn’t, questions will be why this one [is] so much shorter,” Litman added. “Seems to me McAfee has to finesse this and not clear exactly how he will. Big hearing.”

Trump’s calendar for 2024 includes three upcoming trials. On March 4, the former president is set to face four charges linked to the events leading up to the January 6 Capitol riot following the federal investigation by special counsel Jack Smith. Additionally, Trump is confronted with 34 counts in New York pertaining to accusations of falsifying business records in relation to “hush money” paid to Stormy Daniels, with the trial scheduled for March 25, 2024.

In May, Trump is slated to commence his trial in Florida, where he faces allegations of unlawfully retaining classified documents after leaving office and obstructing federal efforts to recover them. Trump has entered a plea of not guilty to all charges across all four cases.

It remains uncertain whether any of the planned trials will need to be rescheduled to accommodate Willis’ potentially extensive case involving the former president. It’s also unclear if the Georgia trial’s commencement will be postponed until the conclusion of the other three legal proceedings or if it will proceed concurrently.

The cases are likely to produce another historic first: A leading presidential candidate who has been convicted of criminal activity in the run-up to the election.

Republican voters and other critics have ripped the Biden administration and both Democratic prosecutors in New York and Georgia, accusing them of targeting Trump for political purposes and to keep him off the ballot.

“We are in completely new territory if a sitting president is convicted of crimes he committed before he was elected president, which will be the case here,” Eric J. Segall, professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law and a constitutional expert, previously told Newsweek.

“There’s nothing in the Constitution about this. There’s very little case law about this. We’ll have to see. There’s no way to predict how that would play out. No way,” he added.

Legal Experts Fret That DA Willis Walking Into ‘Trap’ Regarding Federal Appeal
Jon Dougherty, September 19, 2023

A legal expert is warning that Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis could be walking into a “trap” regarding an appeal to have a case moved out of her jurisdiction and into a federal court.

The warning comes after former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ first attempt to get his charges by Willis removed to federal court failed, leading him to file an appeal with the 11th Circuit Court, which is now asking for a brief from Willis regarding her opinion on whether federal officials, generally speaking, are eligible for such immunity of the kind being sought by Meadows, a former GOP congressman from North Carolina.

Georgia State Law professor Anthony Michael Kreis says that even if Willis wins the review, it will be shortlived and meaningless.

“I think this is a trap that Fani Willis should not walk into,” Kreis wrote on the X platform. “The consensus has generally been (and I think correct) that the current status of the defendant does not matter but what does matter is whether the acts that undergird the legal action are related to official duties.”



“Willis should shut this down despite it maybe giving Meadows a defeat,” continued Kreis. “First, it is a nasty kind of textualism that conservatives like and liberals should reject. Second, it introduces more unnecessary confusion and opens the door to a greater likelihood of Supreme Court review. Third, it makes little theoretical sense. If the idea of removal is to provide a neutral venue to persons employed by the gov’t or empowered by federal law from vindictive actions in state court, then the D’s current status is irrelevant. It’s about protecting federal integrity.”

Concluded Kreis: “Willis should politely decline the invitation to derail litigation and upend the removal statute.”




Another attorney and legal commentator, Bradley Moss, noted in response, “I concur.”

Former President Donald Trump is also likely to try and remove his case to federal court, according to reports, and some legal analysts believe he’s got a good shot at doing so.

Trump has been charged with 18 others on allegations they colluded to overturn the election results in Georgia, but his legal team is expected to try and get his case moved out of state court and to a federal court, where attorneys are then likely to seek dismissal of the charges under the guise that Trump is immune as he was acting in an official capacity.

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig warned that one main fault with the indictment is that Trump and many of his allies can try to move the trial, which would take the case out of the heavily liberal county in Georgia, though former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ attempt last week was unsuccessful.

“The other big issue – and we just said this word – is removal. Get ready for a lot of talk about removal. Mark Meadows is already trying to do this. Donald Trump will try to follow. In a nutshell, what this means is, if a federal official gets charged with a state crime that relates to that federal official’s official job duties, you can get the case removed.”

Honig argued that such duties must be “within the legitimate scope of those jobs,” adding that is “an important qualification. He [Trump and others] can get the case moved over to federal court and then potentially dismissed. So, these are really important motions. Mark Meadows has already done this, Trump is sure to follow.”

“The hard part [is] it’s a lot of work. You’re not going to be able to try all 19 at once. That’s not going to happen. And you just never know how every one of these defendants, let’s put aside Trump. Every one of these defendants, even the people we heard of, is going to mount a furious defense, as is their right to do,” Honig said.

“They all work together as one cohesive entity towards an illegal end,” Honig said. “You have the advantage to pick off some low-hanging fruit and get them to flip.

Legal Experts Shred Fani Willis’ Case Against Donald Trump
Martin Walsh, September 22, 2023

A legal expert has warned Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis that she may be walking into a “trap” if she files an appeal to have a case moved out of her jurisdiction and into federal court.

The warning comes after former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ first attempt to have Willis’ charges dismissed in federal court failed, prompting him to file an appeal with the 11th Circuit Court, which is now requesting a brief from Willis on whether federal officials, in general, are eligible for such immunity as Meadows, a former Republican congressman from North Carolina, is seeking.

According to Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University, even if Willis wins the review, it will be short-lived and meaningless.

“I think this is a trap that Fani Willis should not walk into,” Kreis wrote on the X platform. “The consensus has generally been (and I think correct) that the current status of the defendant does not matter but what does matter is whether the acts that undergird the legal action are related to official duties.”

“Willis should shut this down despite it maybe giving Meadows a defeat,” continued Kreis. “First, it is a nasty kind of textualism that conservatives like and liberals should reject. Second, it introduces more unnecessary confusion and opens the door to a greater likelihood of Supreme Court review. Third, it makes little theoretical sense. If the idea of removal is to provide a neutral venue to persons employed by the gov’t or empowered by federal law from vindictive actions in state court, then the D’s current status is irrelevant. It’s about protecting federal integrity.”

Concluded Kreis: “Willis should politely decline the invitation to derail litigation and upend the removal statute.”

Former President Donald Trump is also likely to try and remove his case to federal court, according to reports, and some legal analysts believe he’s got a good shot at doing so.

Trump and 18 others have been charged with conspiring to overturn Georgia election results, but his legal team is expected to try to get his case moved out of state court and into federal court, where attorneys are likely to seek dismissal of the charges under the guise that Trump is immune because he was acting in an official capacity.

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig warned that one major flaw in the indictment is that Trump and many of his allies could try to move the trial, taking the case out of Georgia’s heavily liberal county, though former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ attempt last week was unsuccessful.

Trump and 18 others have been charged with conspiring to overturn Georgia election results, but his legal team is expected to try to get his case moved out of state court and into federal court, where attorneys are likely to seek dismissal of the charges under the guise that Trump is immune because he was acting in an official capacity.

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig warned that one major flaw in the indictment is that Trump and many of his allies could try to move the trial, taking the case out of Georgia’s heavily liberal county, though former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows’ attempt was unsuccessful.

“The other big issue – and we just said this word – is removal. Get ready for a lot of talk about removal. Mark Meadows is already trying to do this. Donald Trump will try to follow. In a nutshell, what this means is, if a federal official gets charged with a state crime that relates to that federal official’s official job duties, you can get the case removed.”

Honig argued that such duties must be “within the legitimate scope of those jobs,” adding that is “an important qualification. He [Trump and others] can get the case moved over to federal court and then potentially dismissed. So, these are really important motions. Mark Meadows has already done this, Trump is sure to follow.”

“The hard part [is] it’s a lot of work. You’re not going to be able to try all 19 at once. That’s not going to happen. And you just never know how every one of these defendants, let’s put aside Trump. Every one of these defendants, even the people we heard of, is going to mount a furious defense, as is their right to do,” Honig said.

“They all work together as one cohesive entity towards an illegal end,” Honig said. “You have the advantage to pick off some low-hanging fruit and get them to flip.”

Surveillance footage obtained by VoterGA shows large numbers of ballots being scanned multiple times. Pay attention to the women wearing yellow at the desk. According to VoterGA, she slides ballots into a scanning machine, removes the ballots, and then reinserts the same ballots.

This happens multiple times. The question is, how many times were these ballots counted? Was each vote counted more than once? Fulton County won't answer that question.

Now, one way to know that answer would be to check what are called audit tally sheets. Tellingly, for months after the 2020 election, Fulton County failed to provide more than 100,000 of those tally sheets, including 50,000 of them from mail-in ballots.

When VoterGA finally forced Fulton County to turn over the tally sheets, the conclusion was stunning. Here's what the audit found. Seven falsified audit tally sheets containing fabricated vote totals... For example, a batch containing 59 actual ballot images for Joe Biden and 42 for Donald Trump was reported as 100 for Biden and 0 for Trump.
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https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/voting-machines-georgia-lawsuit/2023/11/12/id/1141994/

Federal Judge Orders Trial for Ga.'s Dominion Voting Machines

20-year Fulton County Election Official Susan Voyles Says Test Ballots Counted In Georgia

"This is the part that I am just so sure of. I think that some of the TEST BALLOTS from prior to the election made their way into these batches."

"These are so clean, these are pristine. These are almost immaculate... I could tell that these had been printed... 107 of them all had this little eclipse for Biden... Every vote on every ballot, both sides, even soil and conservation, was exactly the same."

"These were the cleanest ballots I have ever in my life seen... And then the paper felt different. There was just such an anomaly to these ballots."

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that these 145,000 ballots in Fulton County need to be forensically audited.