Georgia prosecutor: Grand jury investigating Trump could decide charges this summer

The Fulton County district attorney signaled a new indictment of former President Donald Trump could come this summer in letters Monday to local law enforcement authorities warning about “significant public reaction” when grand jury results are announced.

District Attorney Fani Willis said possible criminal indictments could come between July 11 and Sept. 1. The grand jury could decide to indict or not, but she asked for “heightened security and preparedness” during that period. She did not specifically name Trump.

A fresh indictment of the former president — and current White House candidate — would add further complications to both the 2024 election and the future of the Republican Party, where Trump remains a frontrunner for the presidential nomination.

“Open-source intelligence has indicated the announcement of decisions in this case may provoke a significant public reaction,” Willis wrote in the letter obtained by USA TODAY, adding that some could involve “acts of violence that will endanger the safety of our community.”

She sent similar letters to county Sheriff Patrick Labat, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum and Matthew Kallmyer, director of the Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was first to report about the letters.

The letters come after Trump called for protests against his criminal indictment in New York last month, but there was minimal public reaction to those charges. Even so, police erected barricades around the courthouse for Trump's arraignment and closed streets for the former president’s motorcade. His flight and drive from Florida were covered closely by national media.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced 34 counts of falsifying business records against Trump on March 30.

Trump is under investigation in Georgia for two strategies, which legal experts said could lead to charges of election fraud.

In the weeks after the election, Trump’s campaign recruited Republican electors as alternates to the official electors in Georgia and other states Democrat Joe Biden won. The goal outlined by Trump lawyers including John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro was to have state legislatures overturn state results and designate the GOP alternates for Congress to count Jan. 6. No states agreed to do that.

In a memo Dec. 9, 2020, Chesebro warned the Trump campaign the alternate slates could be “somewhat dicey in Georgia” and problematic in other states.

Trump also personally called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, to plead with him to “find” the votes he needed to win the state. By that point, Trump had tried to call him 18 times and Raffensperger had avoided taking the calls, according to an investigation by the House of Representatives.

“I just want to find 11,780 votes,” Trump said. “Give me a break. You know, we have that in spades already.”

Trump has denied wrongdoing and declared the call “perfect.”

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia grand jury could decide Trump charges this summer: prosecutor