Should Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis decide to bring charges in a case related to the outcome of the 2020 election, several people other than former President Donald Trump could be indicted.
Prosecutors have been considering potential statutes under which to charge Trump, including solicitation to commit election fraud, and conspiracy to commit election fraud, two people briefed on the deliberations told The Guardian.
The unnamed sources say that the DA’s office is also examining the charges of solicitation of a public or political officer to fail to perform their duties, and solicitation to destroy, deface or remove ballots.
According to the sources, Willis is seeking to charge several Trump associates who were “involved in accessing voting machines and copying sensitive election data in Coffee county, Georgia, in January 2021 with computer trespass crimes,” The Guardian reported.
Coffee County GOP chair Cathy Latham and elections board member Eric Chaney orchestrated a plan to have a group of computer experts access the voting system after the 2020 election, according to multiple reports citing text messages that were released. Also involved was Misty Hampton, who was then the county’s elections supervisor.
On Jan. 6, Chaney received word that Latham was speaking with a local businessman who wanted access to the voting system computers.
“Scott Hall is on the phone with Cathy about wanting to come scan our ballots from the general election like we talked about the other day. I am going to call you in a few,” Hampton wrote to her boss in a text message conversation obtained by the Daily Beast.
The next morning, a group of five individuals — led by Paul Maggio, an executive at a nearby computer forensics and data storage company — traveled to the government election offices. The election data was downloaded onto a portable hard drive, uploaded to an encrypted server, and “shared with several Trump allies and operatives, including Logan, Penrose, Powell and Giuliani,” according to CNN.
The outlet also reported it had obtained texts from Jim Penrose, a former NSA official who was working with Trump attorney Sidney Powell to access voting machines. “Here’s the plan. Let’s keep this close hold,” Penrose reportedly texted Doug Logan, CEO of Cyber Ninjas, a firm that audits voting systems.
“We only have until Saturday to decide if we are going to use this report to try to decertify the Senate run-off election or if we hold it for a bigger moment,” Penrose wrote.
The insiders who spoke with The Guardian did not specify which or how many Trump associates would be facing charges. The outlet says the outcome of deliberations, as well as the manner in which certain statutes might be enforced, is unknown, having also recently reported Willis’ office was considering bringing a racketeering case against Trump and potentially his associates.
Prosecutors are expected to bring charges within the next few weeks, based on a May letter from Willis to Sheriff Patrick Labat instructing him to increase security for a “pending announcement” many anticipate will be the indictment(s).
The district attorney’s office also told a superior court judge not to schedule trials between July 31 through August 18, as her team would be working remotely due to potential security concerns.
