“I have 182 open, unconditional murders involving 222 suspects,” she said. “I have a sex crimes department that is supported. But I am quite capable of identifying great people who work in this office who are committed to making this county a safer place, and I am not letting go of my duty because I have other responsibilities. “
Clark D. Cunningham, a law professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta, said it looked like Ms. Willis would “ pull out all the stops ” for the Trump case, “ because of the wide range of crimes mentioned. in that letter, ”he said, adding“ and especially the talk of extortion and conspiracy. ‘
The push to reverse the election results in Georgia began on Nov. 13, when Mr. Graham, an ally of Trump from South Carolina, made a phone call to Mr. Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state. Mr. Raffensperger, a Republican, later said that Mr. Graham had asked him if he had the authority to throw out all mail-in votes from certain counties, a suggestion the Secretary of State rejected. (Mr. Graham disputed Mr. Raffensperger’s story.)
On December 3, Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, appeared before a Georgia State Senate committee and said that “there is more than enough evidence to conclude that this election was a sham,” and explained a number of false claims. . Two days later, Mr. Trump called Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia, to urge him to convene a special session of the legislature to reverse the election. Mr Trump then called Georgia’s Republican Attorney General Chris Carr, pressuring him not to oppose a legal effort to challenge the election results in Georgia and other swing states.
Due to the flurry of Trump phone calls, Ms. Willis said she believes she is the only official with jurisdiction who has no conflict of interest. As she wrote in her letters to other government officials, “this office is the only agency with jurisdiction that does not witness the conduct that is the subject of the investigation.”
Even after Mr. Raffensperger re-certified the election results on December 7, Mr. Trump’s efforts intensified. Three days later, Mr. Giuliani testified virtually before a state house committee, repeating false claims that polling stations in an Atlanta arena had incorrectly counted ballots placed in suitcases while simply using the normal storage containers. “They look like they are passing out,” he said at the hearing.
Gabriel Sterling, a top assistant to Mr. Raffensperger, has derided the claims as a ludicrous “‘Oceans 11’-esque plan,” adding, “This has been thoroughly debunked.”