Georgia Republicans seriously worried about 'sprawling' Fani Willis probe: experts
August 11, 2023
While Trump and his allies publicly scoff that the criminal investigations into him are politically motivated and doomed to fail, Georgia Republicans are privately scared of the investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is probing election interference in that state, argued reporter Greg Bluestein on MSNBC Friday.
Willis, who has been investigating everything from fake electors to breaches of voting equipment to the infamous phone call in which Trump demanded Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger "find" extra votes, is reportedly preparing to seek "more than a dozen" indictments next week, including against people other than Trump, including potential racketeering charges.
"I want to read this from a member of GOP on the impact of these charges," said anchor Alicia Menendez. "Quote, 'I know it will definitely unite his base even further and energize them to turn out the in primary. The question is how will it affect the average Republican presidential primary voter. That I don't know the answer to.' What does your reporting tell you about this loyalty to Trump in Georgia, compared to the possibility of charges alienating a crucial group of Republican voters?"
"We've seen national polls that shows Trump loyalists writing off the criminal charges as another attempt to politicize a prosecution, to inoculate and insulate Joe Biden," said Bluestein. "But here in Georgia, they remember firsthand the phone call to Brad Raffensperger, they lived through Donald Trump pressuring like Brian Kemp and Chris Carr to do things to overturn Joe Biden's victory and invalidate the will of the Georgia voters. The folks in that story are not just Republican activists but also Republican leaders that are concerned. Even if they're loyalists, they're concerned that your average swing voter won't come back and rally in Donald Trump base this time around, especially with the criminal charges pending against them."
"And to that point, Willis will present her case next week," said Menendez, turning to former federal prosecutor Harry Litman. "How much are Georgia voters going to learn from her how Trump targeted their space, or their voters especially, with potential charges for more than a dozen of his allies?"
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"A ton," said Litman. "And they may well learn a ton about how he targeted other state voters as well. That would be one big reason she would do this RICO charge, which is what you've been hearing about. The defining feature of this case is it is going to be as complicated, as sprawling as the three [other criminal cases against Trump] put together and then some. I don't know if you've been in a courtroom with five defendants, but with 18 defendants it boggles the mind, beyond the ground political dynamics in Georgia, but in the court, kind of courtroom battles, it is going to be completely transformed by that kind of enormous number. Imagine 17 defendants cross-examining a single government witness. There's many complicated motions that they could bring because it is state and federal. But this is going to sort of blow the doors off in terms of its overall kind of complicated and sprawling nature."
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