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Georgia prosecutor sends ‘target’ letter to Republican Trump allies

Comes as part of Fulton County DA Fani Willis’s investigation of false electors

Eric Garcia
Washington DC
Friday 15 July 2022 19:46 BST
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The district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia has sent so-called “target” letters to prominent Georgia Republicans and allies of former president Donald Trump for her investigation into attempts to send a false slate of electors, Yahoo! News reported.

Fani Willis, the Democratic district attorney, has sent letters to state Senator Burt Jones, who is running for lieutenant governor, Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer and state Senator Brandon Beach.

Mr Jones and Mr Beach were part of a meeting on 14 December 2020 wherein 16 Republicans selected themselves as electors even though they had no legal basis for doing so. Mr Shafer reportedly presided over the meeting and signed the names of the false slate of electors in a declaration to the National Archives.

While Ms Willis did not comment directly on the letters, she did say she is considering having Mr Trump testify to a grand jury investigating his conduct.

“I think it's something that we’re still weighing and evaluating,” she said. Ms Willis said that she had spoken to defence lawyer Dwight Thomas, who was retained to represent Mr Trump. But Ms Willis brushed off potential criticism that it could lead to opposition from Republicans.

“I don’t make decisions based on what people say about me”, she said.

Randy Evans, Mr Trump’s former ambassador to Luxembourg, said that Republicans will attack the credibility of the investigation.

“It drops it right into a characterization of this as a political, partisan witch hunt, as opposed to a legitimate inquiry,” he said.

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