ATLANTA — The scope, speed and severity of the criminal investigation into election meddling by former President Donald J. Trump and his associates in Georgia was underscored Friday by the revelation that two pro-Trump state senators and the chairman of the Republican state sent letters from an Atlanta prosecutor informing them they could be charged, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
Fulton County Prosecutor Fani T. Willis is also considering subpoenaing Trump herself and asking his testimony before a grand jury just days after she subpoenaed seven of his advisers, including Rudolph W. Giuliani and Senator Lindsey Graham of the United States. south. Carolina, in an investigation into efforts to reverse Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. The special grand jury is investigating a range of possible criminal acts, including the selection of a number of pro-Trump voters in the weeks following the election and Mr Trump’s now-famous appeal to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, asking him to “find” nearly 12,000 votes that would reverse his loss there.
The letters to David Shafer, the chairman of the Republican Party of Georgia, and Senators Burt Jones and Brandon Beach were first reported by Yahoo News. Both the men and their lawyers could not be reached for comment Friday.
The potential disclosure of the Republican officials could have serious ramifications in the November elections in Georgia, where Mr. Jones is the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. On Friday, his Democratic opponent, Charlie Bailey, released a statement accusing Mr. Jones of being “anti-American and unpatriotic” for his participation in a “failed attempt to overthrow the US government.”
Mr. Shafer’s allegiance to Mr. Trump and his baseless claims about a stolen election have put him at odds with Republican government leader Brian Kemp, as well as Mr. Raffensperger, sparking an unusual schism within the Republican state party. Both Mr. Kemp and Mr. Raffensperger easily defeated the Trump-backed primary challengers this year.
The Trump Investigations
Countless questions. Since Donald J. Trump has left office, the former president has been facing civil and criminal to research across the country in its business dealings and political activities. Here’s a look at the notable questions:
The so-called target letters are the latest indication that the Georgia investigation could pose one of the most dangerous legal problems for Mr Trump and some of his allies. The televised Congressional hearings on the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by Mr. Trump’s supporters have caught the attention of many Americans, but it’s unclear whether they will lead to Justice Department charges. And a high-profile investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office into allegations that Mr Trump inflated the value of his assets fell apart this year.
Some legal observers have argued that Mr Trump’s actions, including his post-election telephone conversations with Georgian officials such as Mr Raffensperger, put him at risk of indictment on charges of violating relatively simple Georgian criminal laws, including criminal solicitations to commit election fraud. Ms. Willis has indicated in court files that a number of other charges are possible, including racketeering and conspiracy, which could implicate a broad list of pro-Trump associates both inside and outside Georgia.
“I believe there’s a good chance he’s headed for indictment,” said Norman Eisen, who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first Trump impeachment trial and who co-authored a long exam of the Georgia case by the Brookings Institution. Among other things, he said: “There is strong evidence of violations of Georgian law in the form of the smoking gun tape of him demanding 11,780 votes, while on that tape it is perfectly clear that he knows those votes don’t exist.”
Mr. Beach’s name was mentioned in an email sent by a Georgia Trump campaign official to pro-Trump voters on Dec. 13, 2020, the day before voters met at the Georgia State Capitol. That email, detailed last month in articles from The Washington Post and CNN, instructed them to meet with “complete secrecy and discretion” and advised them to tell Capitol security personnel that they were attending a meeting with Mr. beach and mr. jones.
Robert N. Driscoll, an attorney for Mr. shafer, has argued that there was “nothing secret or covert” about the gathering of the pro-Trump voters. mr. Driscoll noted that Mr. Shafer filed a lawsuit against the election results in Georgia, which had not yet been ruled out as of December 14, the date on which the presidential election is due to vote.
The alternative pro-Trump voters were convened “for the sole purpose of preserving a remedy in the event the lawsuit were successful,” Driscoll said in a statement.
But Ms. Willis’s office, in recent subpoenas of potential witnesses in the case, has characterized pro-Trump voters as “part of a Trump campaign-coordinated multi-state plan to publicize the results of the November 2020 election.” influence Georgia. and elsewhere.”
On Wednesday, an independent journalist, George Chidi, testified before the grand jury in downtown Atlanta, Chidi said in an interview on Friday.
Mr Chidi has written before about finding the group of pro-Trump voters in a room in the State Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, and asking a woman in the room what the meeting was about. “Education,” the woman told him. Mr. Chidi said that he was then quickly led out of the room and a person was placed at the door to guard the room.
On Friday, attorneys for Mr. Jones, the state senator and Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, filed a motion calling for Mrs. Willis, the district attorney, and her office to be disqualified from any investigation into Mr. Jones. for donating money and participating in a fundraiser for Mr. Bailey, the Democratic lieutenant governor candidate.
Jeff DiSantis, a deputy district attorney who serves as spokesperson for Ms. Willis’s office, said in a statement the motion was “without merit.” Political campaign issues, said Mr. DiSantis, have nothing to do with the “fulfillment of her oath of office by Mrs. Willis to investigate and prosecute crimes in Fulton County.”