- Fulton County DA Fani Willis' high stakes investigation of Trump is ramping up.
- The Fulton County special grand jury issued subpoenas to members of Trump's inner circle.
- Former colleagues say she can handle the pressure from this investigation.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is ramping up her investigation into former President Donald Trump after the special grand jury issued several subpoenas to members of his inner circle.
The latest batch of subpoenas were issued to Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and other legal advisers, including John Eastman, Kenneth Chesebro, Cleta Mitchell, and Jenna Ellis — who all advised Trump on steps to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
"The fact that she has a special grand jury shows that she's not backing down from doing this case," said David Cooke, a former district attorney for the Macon Judicial Circuit in Georgia, who still keeps in touch with Willis. "Her number one goal is getting justice and protecting the integrity of the case."
The moves could bring her one step closer to announcing whether she will formally charge Trump — a decision that could come as early as this fall.
The 17-month-long Fulton County investigation poses one of Trump's most pressing legal challenges, which focuses on whether he or his top advisers may have violated state laws against soliciting election fraud and racketeering. And it also comes against the backdrop of several other investigations into Trump by the Justice Department, New York Attorney General Letitia James's civil investigation of the Trump Organization, and most recently, the House select committee investigating the effort to block the peaceful transfer of power that culminated on January 6.
When Willis formally announced her investigation into Trump, she said it would focus on Trump's attempt to pressure Georgia state officials to overturn the state's 2020 election results. Since then, her investigation has expanded to also investigating an alleged scheme to send a fake slate of electors to the Georgia State Capitol to try and overturn the state's election results, according to a subpoena for Chesebro.
Legal experts Insider spoke to said Willis has a lot of incriminating evidence against Trump. For example, there is the phone call Trump made on January 2 2021, to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger where he pressured him to "find" just enough votes to carry the state.
"The phone call with Brad Raffensperger and hearing Trump's voice is, I think, the strongest kind of evidence you could produce against a criminal defendant," said Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University College of Law.
Kreis said Trump's efforts to overturn the election results in Georgia was part of an effort he repeated in other states that Biden won.
In recent weeks, the Jan. 6 committee has put Trump's efforts in Georgia and other states back in the national spotlight after Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and Raffensperger publicly testified before the committee. The two Republican officials testified that Trump and his associates tried to pressure them to investigate election fraud allegations that turned out to be untrue, or to remove the electors that Biden secured by winning the state vote.
These hearings allowed the public to hear directly from the individuals who were pressured by Trump.
"It reiterated the horror of what the former president did," said Peter Odom, a former prosecutor who worked with Willis in Fulton County.
Odom added that the evidence presented during the Jan. 6 committee hearings has drawn more attention to Willis' investigation of Trump.
"I know that there are people that are hungry for justice. I know there are people that are frustrated at the apparent Teflon nature of this former president and that he does things right out in the open and has never gotten in trouble for any of it," Odom said.
High stakes
Since stepping into the national spotlight after announcing her investigation into Trump, Willis has increased security around her. Insider previously reported that Willis is surrounded by security as she comes and goes at her Atlanta offices and even as she walks around her neighborhood.
Death threats against her have only increased after she announced that there would be a special grand jury for the Trump investigation and after taking on the prosecution case for the well-known rapper Young Thug, who is expected to go on trial next year.
"It is definitely a significant driver of the heightened security," Willis said in an interview with Atlanta's WSB Channel 2 News. "People are angry about that investigation. People are angry about investigations into gangs, so each of those things plays a factor."
Legal experts told Insider that it's crucial for her to get this investigation right in order to make a sound decision on whether there is enough evidence to charge the former president, who's seen as a likely contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
"An investigation of this magnitude. I mean, you're talking about the president of the United States as a potential target of your investigation. And when you're looking at criminal liability, I don't think the stakes get any higher than that," said Clint Rucker, a former Fulton County assistant district attorney who worked alongside Willis.
Since Willis formally launched her investigation into Trump in February 2021, she has assembled a team that includes an expert in racketeering law, former police officers, and veteran prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys to assist. At the beginning of her probe, she expressed frustration at the lack of cooperation from witnesses and requested a special grand jury.
The special grand jury has the authority to issue subpoenas to compel witnesses to come forward and testify. It will also make recommendations about criminal prosecution for Willis to consider. Several individuals have testified before the special grand jury, including Raffensperger.
Those that have known Willis for years and still speak with her say she won't fold under the pressure.
"The evidence that's coming out won't put any pressure on her because the pressure that Fani has is the internal pressure she puts on herself to do a good job and to get justice for people," said Cooke.