ATLANTA — The prosecutor in Atlanta investigating whether or not then-President Donald Trump and his allies illegally meddled within the 2020 election in Georgia stated Monday she expects to announce charging choices within the case this summer season and urged “heightened security.”

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wrote in a letter to county Sheriff Pat Labat that she expects to announce the choices someday between July 11 and Sept. 1. She stated she wished to provide Labat time to coordinate with native, state and federal businesses “to ensure that our law enforcement community is ready to protect the public.”

“Open-source intelligence has indicated the announcement of decisions in this case may provoke a significant public reaction,” Willis wrote within the letter, including that some may contain “acts of violence that will endanger the safety of our community.”

As leaders, they must be ready, she wrote, including that her crew could be in contact to speak about preparations.

The letter was first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which reported that letters have been additionally despatched to Atlanta’s police chief and the top of the Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency.

The Atlanta Police Department confirmed receipt of a letter from Willis and stated it will “continue to monitor the potential for unrest throughout our city.”

“We stand ready to respond to demonstrations to ensure the safety of those in our communities and those exercising their First Amendment right, or to address illegal activity, should the need arise,” a division assertion stated.

Willis has been investigating whether or not Trump and his allies broke any legal guidelines as they tried to overturn his slim election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia.

She opened the investigation in early 2021, shortly after a recording of a telephone name between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was made public. In that decision, Trump prompt the state’s high elections official may assist “find” the votes wanted to overturn his loss within the state.

It has change into clear since then that the scope of her investigation has expanded far past that decision.

Trump, who final fall introduced a 2024 bid for the White House, already faces legal prices in New York. A Manhattan grand jury in March indicted him on 34 counts of falsifying enterprise information to cowl up hush-money funds to a porn actor throughout the 2016 presidential election.

New York police had stated forward of his arraignment there that they have been prepared for big protests by the previous president’s supporters, who consider any prices in opposition to him are politically motivated. And whereas tons of of onlookers, protesters, journalists and a few politicians did present up, fears that unruly crowds would trigger chaos in the end proved unfounded.

Meanwhile in Washington, federal grand juries are investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election and the potential mishandling of categorised paperwork by Trump at his Florida property. Justice Department prosecutors have questioned quite a few Trump administration officers earlier than the grand jury. It’s not clear when these probes, each overseen by a particular counsel appointed final fall, would possibly conclude or who if anybody could be charged.

Trump’s authorized crew in Georgia - Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg - stated in an announcement that Willis’ announcement to legislation enforcement “does nothing more than set forth a potential timetable” for choices Willis had already stated have been coming.

“On behalf of President Trump, we filed a substantive legal challenge for which the D.A.’s Office has yet to respond,” the assertion stated. “We look forward to litigating that comprehensive motion which challenges the deeply flawed legal process and the ability of the conflicted D.A’s Office to make any charging decisions at all.”

Trump’s authorized crew final month filed a movement in search of to toss out a report drafted by a particular grand jury that was impaneled to help Willis’ investigation. They additionally requested the courtroom to ban Willis from persevering with to research or prosecute Trump. A choose gave Willis till May 1 to reply.

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