Trump could face legal jeopardy for supporters' threats against election officials

Donald Trump may face legal jeopardy for the threats his supporters have issued against election officials in Georgia, where he leaned heavily on the secretary of state to undo his loss.

Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger and his family have faced a wave of threats since the election, and so have local officials and volunteers, and Reuters reported that investigators may be looking into Trump's role in those widespread intimidation campaigns.

"I think there's going to be a big-picture look at all of it," said Clint Rucker, an Atlanta criminal defense attorney and former Fulton County prosecutor.

The county's current prosecutor, District Attorney Fani Willis, is already investigating whether Trump illegally interfered in Georgia's presidential election by pressuring Raffensperger in a Jan. 2 phone call to "find" the votes he needed to undo his election loss to Joe Biden.

Willis also said in a Feb. 10 letter that her office would investigate "any involvement in violence or threats related to the election's administration," which legal experts say suggests prosecutors are looking into the possibility that Trump or his allies solicited or encouraged death threats against election officials.

That could fit into a possible racketeering probe of Trump's efforts to overturn the election, according to Rucker.

Threatening violence against a poll officer is a felony in Georgia that carries a possible 10-year prison term and up to $100,000 in fines, and making death threats is punishable by up to five years in prison and $1,000 in fines.

Richard Barron, who oversaw Fulton County's election and reported nearly 150 hateful calls between Christmas and early January, blames the twice-impeached one-term president for the threats he and his team members have faced.

"It seemed like we were descending into this third-world mentality," Barron said. "I never expected that out of this country."

Trump showed a video clip of Barron, who has worked in elections for 22 years, at a Dec. 5 rally and baselessly accused him and his staff of illegally tampering with ballots, and he said that was followed by a deluge of threats against him and his team.

"I underestimated how hard he was going to push that narrative and just keep pushing it," Barron said.

At least 10 counties received emails threatening to bomb all of their polling locations unless Trump's election loss was overturned.

"This sh_t is rigged," the email said. "Until Trump is guaranteed to be POTUS until 2024 like he should be, we will bring death and destruction to defend this country if needed and get our voices heard."