'Mishap': Fulton County explains glitch that created premature Trump indictment file

The premature filing that suggested Donald Trump was indicted before the Fulton County grand jury had even voted on Monday was a "mishap," the county clerk explained Tuesday.

The country was on indictment watch out of Georgia when Reuters first published a document it said Fulton County court house had filed that showed Trump had been indicted on state charges in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The county immediately deleted the filing and insisted it wasn't an official document.

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The county explained Tuesday that, in anticipation of "a potentially large indictment," Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts, Che Alexander "used charges that pre-exist" to test the system and "conduct a trial run."

"Unfortunately, the sample working document led to the docketing of what appeared to be an indictment, but which was, in fact, only a fictitious docket sheet," the county said in its release.

"Because the media has access to documents before they are published, and while it may have appeared that something official had occurred because the document bore a case number and filing date, it did not include a signed 'true' or 'no' bill nor an official stamp with Clerk Alexander's name, thereby making the document unofficial and a test sample only."

You can read the full response here.