Prosecutor signals August timetable for charges in probe

The Georgia prosecutor leading an investigation into former President Donald Trump and his allies has taken the unusual step of announcing remote work days for most of her staff during the first three weeks of August, asking judges in a downtown Atlanta courthouse not to schedule trials for part of that time as she prepares to bring charges in the inquiry.

The moves suggest that Fani

Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, is expecting a grand jury to unseal indictments during that time period.

Willis outlined the remote work plan and made the request to judges in a letter sent Thursday to 21 Fulton County officials, including the chief county judge, Ural Glanville, and the sheriff, Pat Labat.

“Thank you for your consideration and assistance in keeping the Fulton County Judicial Complex safe during this time,” wrote Willis, who already has asked the FBI to help with security in and around the courthouse.

Willis had said in a previous letter that any charges related to the Trump investigation would come in the grand jury term that runs from July 11 to Sept. 1. Her letter Thursday appears to offer more specificity on timing.

Her timetable, however, already has been pushed back as she has sought to hammer out cooperation deals with some potential defendants.

Trump's legal team is trying to scuttle the case with a motion, filed in March, seeking to quash much of the collected evidence and throw Willis off the case before any charges are filed.

Willis' office has spent more than two years investigating whether the former president and his allies illegally meddled in the 2020 election in Georgia, which Trump narrowly lost to President Joe Biden. A special grand jury that heard evidence in the case for roughly seven months recommended more than a dozen people for indictments, and its forewoman strongly hinted in an interview with The New York Times in February that Trump was among them.