Georgia prosecutor will decide on election probe ‘charging decisions’ in summer

ATLANTA — The Georgia district attorney investigating whether former Donald Trump and his allies broke the law when they attempted to overturn the 2020 election loss in the state said she will announce sometime this summer whether charges will be filed in the case.

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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis made the announcement in letters sent to state and law enforcement agencies on Monday, The Washington Post reported. Willis urged a “need for heightened security and preparedness in coming months due to this pending announcement.”

In the letter, which was addressed to Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat, Willis said she would be announcing charging decisions during the court’s summer session, which runs between July 11 and Sept. 1, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“Open-source intelligence has indicated the announcement of decisions in this case may provoke a significant public reaction,” Willis wrote, according to The Associated Press.

“We have seen in recent years that some may go outside of public expressions of opinion that are protected by the First Amendment to engage in acts of violence that will engage the safety (of) our community,” Wills wrote. “As leaders, it is incumbent for us to prepare.

“Please accept this correspondence as notice to allow you sufficient time to prepare the sheriff’s office and coordinate with local, state and federal agencies to ensure that our law enforcement community is ready to protect the public.”

Willis has been investigating whether Trump and his allies broke any laws after his narrow loss to Joe Biden in Georgia during the 2020 election, the AP reported.

She opened the probe in early 2021, shortly after a telephone call recording between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger was made public. In that call, Trump suggested that Raffensberger could help “find” the necessary votes needed to overturn his loss in Georgia, according to the AP.