It’s not every day that state prosecutors launch a criminal investigation into a former president’s efforts, but as NBC News reported this morning, that’s precisely what’s happening now in Georgia.
Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis sent a letter Wednesday to state government officials, including [Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger], requesting that their offices preserve documents related to the call, according to a state official with knowledge of the letter. NBC News verified the contents of the letter, which explicitly states the request is part of a criminal investigation into several charges ranging from false statements to “any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration.”
If this sounds familiar, it’s not your imagination. The New York Times reported a few weeks ago that prosecutors in Georgia “appear increasingly likely to open a criminal investigation” into the former president’s efforts, and the Fulton County district attorney “is already weighing whether to proceed.”
We now know Fani Willis has stopped “weighing” and started investigating.
For those who might need a refresher, the trouble started in earnest on Saturday, Jan. 2, when Trump told Georgia’s Republican secretary of state that he wanted someone to “find” enough votes to flip the state in the then-president’s favor, the will of the voters be damned.
As we discussed soon after, the public heard a recording of Trump, desperate to claim power he didn’t earn, exploring ways to cheat, begging others to participate in his anti-democracy scheme, and even directing some subtle threats at the state’s top elections official. By some measures, it was among the most scandalous recordings ever made of an American president.
It wasn’t long before some observers questioned whether such efforts were legal. Politico published a report noting that Trump’s antics “could run afoul of federal and state criminal statutes, according to legal experts and lawmakers.”
Evidently, there are some prosecutors in Georgia thinking along these same lines.









