ATLANTA — A Georgia prosecutor said Wednesday that she has opened a criminal investigation into \u201cattempts to influence\u201d last year\u2019s general election, including a call in which President Donald Trump asked a top official to find enough votes to overturn Joe Biden\u2019s victory in the state.<\/p>\n
In a Jan. 2 call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Trump repeatedly argued that Raffensperger could change the certified results of the presidential election, an assertion the secretary of state firmly rejected.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,\u201d Trump said. \u201cBecause we won the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat elected to the job in November, did not specifically mention Trump in the letters announcing her investigation. But the former president has been under intense criticism for the call.<\/p>\n
Willis spokesman Jeff DiSantis told The Associated Press that while he could not name the subjects under investigation, he confirmed that the call to Raffensperger was \u201cpart of it\u201d and said \u201cthe matters reported on over the last several weeks are the matters being investigated.\u201d In her letters, Willis also remarks that officials \u201chave no reason to believe that any Georgia official is a target of this investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letters, sent to Raffensperger, Gov. Brian Kemp, the lieutenant governor and the attorney general, instruct the four Republican officials to preserve all records related to the election, particularly those that may contain evidence of attempts to influence elections officials.<\/p>\n
Senior Trump adviser Jason Miller decried the district attorney\u2019s announcement, saying \u201cthe timing here is not accidental given today\u2019s impeachment trial.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is simply the Democrats\u2019 latest attempt to score political points by continuing their witch hunt against President Trump, and everybody sees through it,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n
Noah Bookbinder, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the watchdog group last month sent a criminal complaint to Willis\u2019 office outlining laws that it said Trump appeared to have broken on his call with Raffensperger. The group asked Willis to begin a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrump\u2019s conduct violates not only the law, but the foundation on which our democracy is built,\u201d Bookbinder wrote in an emailed statement. \u201cHe may have been able to evade facing criminal charges as president, but he is no longer president. We applaud Fulton County District Attorney Willis for launching this investigation and showing that no one is above the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Willis\u2019 letters note the investigation is looking into \u201cpotential violations of Georgia law prohibiting the solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local government bodies, conspiracy, racketeering, violation of oath of office and any involvement in violence or threats related to the election\u2019s administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
The district attorney added that she will request grand jury subpoenas for the investigation when the next Fulton County grand jury meets in March.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, Raffensperger\u2019s office opened an administrative investigation after a third party filed a complaint alleging that Trump\u2019s call to Raffensperger violated Georgia laws.<\/p>\n
Investigators with the secretary of state\u2019s office who look into such complaints typically present their findings to the state election board, which then decides how to proceed. If the board believes there\u2019s evidence that a crime occurred, it can take action ranging from issuing a letter of reprimand to referring the case to Georgia\u2019s attorney general or to a local district attorney such as Willis.<\/p>\n