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Atlanta-area prosecutors have reportedly obtained text messages and emails directly connecting members of former President Donald Trump's legal team, including former New York City major turned adviser Rudy Giuliani, to the early January 2021 voting system breach in Coffee County, Georgia, sources with knowledge of the situation told CNN on Sunday (August 13).
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was already expected to seek charges against Trump allies while presenting her case to a grand jury this week prior to reports of the messages being in prosecutors' possession. A text message sent by an employee from the firm Sullivan Strickler, which was hired by Sidney Powell to examine Coffee County voting systems, in a group chat with other colleagues appear to link Giuliani, identified as "the Mayor," to the Coffee County breach.
“Just landed back in DC with the Mayor huge things starting to come together!” the message sent on January 1 reportedly states. “Most immediately, we were just granted access – by written invitation! – to Coffee County’s systems. Yay!”
Willis could seek several indictments as she aims for a racketeering case against Trump and some of his closest allies on the grounds that they were operating as a criminal enterprise while attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
"I think she is going to tell a story," said Georgia State law professor Clark D. Cunningham while discussing the possibility of proceeding with racketeering charges via CNN. "The story of how one person at the top – the former president – really marshaled an army of people to accomplish his goal which was to stay in power through any means."
Trump already faces 37 counts of allegations that he retained national defense information, conspired to obstruct justice and made false statements, which he has already pleaded not guilty to. The 77-year-old also pleaded not guilty to a prior criminal trial scheduled to start in March 2024 in which he faces 34 felony counts on felony business charges in relation to his alleged role in paying hush money to former adult film star Stormy Daniels.