Trump lashes out at Fani Willis as his legal woes intensify
The former president is ramping up his attacks and rhetoric as he braces for yet another criminal indictment.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis at a campaign rally on Tuesday, baselessly accusing her of having an affair with a gang member as another criminal indictment against him looms in Georgia.
CNN reported Wednesday that Willis is expected to seek more than a dozen indictments against Trump and his allies next week when she presents the findings of her long-running 2020 election interference investigation before a grand jury.
The Atlanta prosecutor launched her investigation into Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election shortly after a recording of a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call of Trump pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” was made public. Joe Biden carried Georgia by 11,779 votes.
What did Trump say, exactly?
“They say there’s a young woman — a young racist in Atlanta — they say she was after a certain gang and she ended up having an affair with the head of the gang or a gang member,” Trump told his supporters in New Hampshire. “And this is a person who wants to indict me … for a perfect phone call.”
The possible indictment in Georgia would be the fourth in five months for Trump, the first former president ever to be criminally charged. If the grand jury votes to indict him, that would come amid a flurry of other developments in the two ongoing federal cases against Trump, who remains the prohibitive frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination.
Judge sets hearing on protective order in Jan. 6 case
In Washington, D.C., the judge overseeing the federal case stemming from Trump’s efforts to hold on to power following his 2020 loss has summoned lawyers for the prosecution and defense to appear on Friday to hear arguments over the prosecution's motion for a protective order after Trump, in a social media post, appeared to promise revenge on anyone who goes after him.
"IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!" he wrote in an all-caps missive on Truth Social.
The Justice Department had asked U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan to limit what information Trump and his legal team could share publicly about the case brought by special counsel Jack Smith, including "witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others associated with legal matters pending against him."
Trump's lawyers did not object to a protective order but requested that the judge put in place a version that is "less restrictive" than the one proposed by the government.
At his rally Tuesday, Trump referred to Smith as a “thug” and assured his supporters that he won’t stop talking about the case.
"I will talk about it," he said. "They’re not taking away my First Amendment rights."
DOJ's use of multiple grand juries under review
On Monday, the Florida judge overseeing the classified documents case against Trump ordered Smith to explain why his team used a grand jury in Washington to continue gathering evidence after it had already indicted the former president in Florida using a grand jury in Miami.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, is reviewing the involvement of multiple grand juries after Trump’s lawyers raised the issue.
In June, Trump and his valet, Walt Nauta, were indicted by a federal grand jury on 38 counts stemming from the DOJ's investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents and alleged efforts to obstruct the probe. Late last month, the grand jury returned a new version of the indictment that added more obstruction counts and an additional co-defendant, Carlos De Oliveira, an employee at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
In a motion filed last week, the government said it continued to use grand juries in Florida and Washington after indicting Trump to “investigate further obstructive activity."
