🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Attorney Danny Cevallos, a legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC News, said Sunday that former President Donald Trump and his lawyers "should fear" the ongoing grand jury investigation led by Georgia's Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Willis early last year opened the investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory in her state. Leaked audio revealed in January 2021 that Trump, while still serving as president, pressured Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, to "find 11,780 votes" to shift the election's outcome in his favor.
Legal experts have increasingly alleged that the Georgia probe is a "clear-cut" example of criminal conduct by the former president. A number of prominent attorneys have also predicted that Trump is likely to face an indictment as the result of the investigation.
Speaking to MSNBC's Katie Phang on Sunday morning, Cevallos explained that Willis, unlike the Justice Department, is less concerned about the implications of charging a former head-of-state. He said if he was Trump's attorney he would be "hyper focused" on the Fulton County probe.
"In my mind it doesn't really have that much to do with the underlying crime, it has to do with principles of federalism. In other words, the state of Georgia isn't as concerned as the DOJ about tricky little issues like, 'Hey, can the executive branch really prosecute a former head of the executive branch?'" the legal analyst said.
"An elected DA in Georgia, she doesn't worry about that one iota," Cevallos continued. "She conducts her investigation and she charges, without a single concern about whether or not it affects the executive branch or the separation of powers, or anything like that. So in my mind, that is really the reason why Trump and his team should fear the Fulton County district attorney's investigation more than anything else."
Simultaneously, the Justice Department continues to investigate the events of January 6, 2021, as well as the effort to overturn the 2020 election results. Hundreds of Trump supporters have already been charged for taking part in the violent riot at the Capitol last year.
Although Attorney General Merrick Garland has been relatively tightlipped about details surrounding the investigation, and drawn frustration from some Trump critics for not already indicting the former president, he has said that nobody is off limits in the probe.
"No person is above the law in this country," Garland said Wednesday. "I can't say it any more clearly than that. There is nothing in the principles of prosecution and any other factors which prevent us from investigating anyone—anyone—who is criminally responsible for an attempt to undo a democratic election."
Other legal experts have contended in recent days that Willis' probe is likely to result in charges against Trump. The district attorney has already sent so-called "target letters" to some prominent Republican allies of the former president, warning them that they could face indictment as part of the probe.
"The Fulton County probe represents the most clear-cut criminal exposure facing Mr. Trump," Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer and partner in the Law Office of Mark S. Zaid, told The Hill for an article published on Saturday. "There is audio, there is witness testimony, there is documentation, and all of that is currently before a special grand jury."
Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus of constitutional law at Harvard University, told CBS News on Wednesday that he expects Trump to face charges from Willis before the Justice Department.
"Even now the proof is there, for example, with respect to strong-arming Raffensperger to steal the votes of Georgia, that's already there," Tribe said. "That's why I expect an indictment from Fani Willis in Fulton County, Georgia, even before an indictment from the Department of Justice."
Newsweek reached out to Trump's press office for comment.
The former president insists he did nothing wrong in Georgia or in his efforts to overturn Biden's win. Trump continues to claim that the 2020 election was "rigged" or "stolen," although no evidence has emerged corroborating this allegation. He describes all probes into him, his family, and his allies as a partisan "witch hunt."
About the writer
Jason Lemon is a Senior Politics Editor at Newsweek based in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to taking on the editor role, Jason's reporting focused ... Read more