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Fulton County DA Fani Willis is going to present her case to the grand jury starting today. (Pro tip: Her name is pronounced "fah-knee," not "fan-ee".) Several key witnesses are going to appear tomorrow. These include former lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan, former state senator Jen Jordan, former state representative Bee Nguyen, and Atlanta-area independent journalist George Chidi, among others. Duncan broke with Trump in late 2020 and is practically champing at the bit in anticipation of testifying. Chidi is important because he happened to stumble upon the fake electors while they were casting their fake electoral votes. He was kicked out of the room, but he can tell what he saw before being shown the door.
Willis has been investigating the coup attempt for 2½ years now. This week, the rubber is going to meet the road. After she makes her case to the grand jury today and tomorrow, it is expected that she will ask for indictments. Nearly all the time when a prosecutor asks for indictments, the grand jury complies. In this case, the audio recording of Donald Trump threatening the state's top election official is probably enough, but Willis undoubtedly has much more.
Also, unlike Jack Smith's Jan. 6 indictment, which was for Trump alone, Willis is expected to charge a dozen or more people using the state's racketeering statute (RICO), which is much broader than the federal one. She has used that statute before and is well-versed in how to use it and what it can do. Trump is all-but-certain to be one of the indictees, but Rudy Giuliani will probably also be charged, and possibly all the fake electors as well (hence Chidi being called to testify). The latter are small fish, but some of them are likely to flip (if they haven't already done so) and could finger some medium-sized fish, who could then finger The Big Fish.
CNN just published a scoop about another, previously unknown, action Trump took in Georgia. It has been known since early 2021 that voting systems in heavily pro-Trump Coffee County, GA, were breached. Until now, it was assumed that was the work of rogue local election officials. Now it turns out that the breach wasn't local or organic at all. It was masterminded by Trump and executed by Rudy Giuliani. There are text messages showing that Trump's hired operatives actively sought access to the voting machines and got it. Getting a conviction for violating RICO requires Willis to prove that Trump engaged in a pattern of criminal acts. Arranging for illegal access to voting machines could be one of the criminal acts, along with pressuring state officials and arranging for fake electors. No doubt the indictment will go into a bit more detail about who did what when in Coffee County.
In one way, a Georgia conviction is much worse than a federal one. If Trump is convicted of a federal crime and is elected president, he can (possibly) pardon himself. No words in the Constitution limit the power of the pardon. However, in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) does not have the power of the pardon (and he hates Trump, so even if he did have it, he wouldn't grant one). Clemency, in its various forms, is the province of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and Georgia law makes getting it exceedingly difficult. So, Trump would be up the Ogeechee River without a paddle if he gets popped in the Peach State. (V)