Security increases at Fulton courthouse ahead of possible Trump indictment

Willis warns officials to stay on alert

Barricades surround Fulton County Courthouse Monday

Fulton County officials are increasing security around the courthouse as the Georgia case against former President Donald Trump and his 2020 campaign appears to be nearing indictments.

Bulky security barricades, U.S. Marshalls, Fulton County Sheriff’s officers and news reporters all surrounded the steps of the courthouse on a sizzling 92° Monday afternoon in Downtown Atlanta.

The increased activity outside the courthouse comes as District Attorney Fani Willis is preparing to recommend indictments in her investigation into the Trump campaign’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results. She has instructed most of her office to work from home this month and has encouraged judges to either delay trials and/or hold hearings by video conference.

The DA’s office has seen an increase in death threats and hateful messages since the investigation began more than two years ago. Willis shared one of those messages with other Fulton County officials late last month and warned her colleagues to stay on alert. “I am sending this to you in case you are unclear on what I and my staff have come accustomed to over the last 2½ years,” she said in an email. “I guess I am sending this as a reminder that you should stay alert over the month of August and stay safe.”

Willis traded court documents for spiral notebooks over the weekend, stopping by several back-to-school donation drives in Fulton County to spend time with students and prepare them for the start of the new school year. 11Alive caught up with the DA in Sandy Springs and asked her about the investigation. She said that her work has concluded and that indictments will be presented to a judge by September 1. "The work is accomplished," she said. "We've been working for two-and-a-half years. We're ready to go."

The investigation centers around the Trump campaign’s plans to send an alternate slate of electors to the electoral college following Joe Biden’s narrow victory. Also at the center of the probe is the now-infamous phone conversation between Trump and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, when the defeated President frantically urged the Republican elections chief to “find” enough votes to erase Biden’s lead.

“He’s getting indicted, no doubt,” Georgia State law professor Anthony Michael Kreis said of Trump. “Indictments aren’t sealed in Georgia. They’re announced in open court immediately.”

Exactly what he could be charged with remains to be seen. But an indictment in Georgia would add to the former President’s growing list of legal troubles as he mounts a third run for the White House. He has been charged in New York for falsifying business records and is facing a federal indictment for refusing to turn over classified documents. Additionally, it appears he could soon face a federal indictment for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot.

Trump’s legal team has made several unsuccessful efforts to disqualify Willis and throw out all of the evidence that was gathered by a special grand jury. A judge on Monday again dismissed the hail mary filing and blasted it as “unnecessary and unfounded.”