Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks on the stage during a campaign rally in Windham, Recent Hampshire, August 8, 2023.
Reba Saldanha | Reuters
Former President Donald Trump could face an unprecedented fourth indictment over his alleged efforts to overturn his loss in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, and top Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling said Sunday that the criminal cases have been “giving oxygen” to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Sterling, a Republican, said Trump lost the state in 2020 and that his repeated claims of election fraud have been unsubstantiated. But due to “tribal” nature of political parties within the U.S., Trump’s supporters are inclined to imagine him.
“He’s making himself a victim, he’s making himself a martyr, and loads of the American individuals are coming behind him because they do feel like a few of this stuff are slightly little bit of a stretch,” Sterling told ABC’s “This Week.”
Sterling warned concerning the potential for violence back in December 2020, before an indignant mob of rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He said Sunday that election-related violence stays his “biggest concern,” as individuals may very well be radicalized to do something “silly.”
The Atlanta prosecutor overseeing the investigation in Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, is anticipated to present her case to a grand jury within the week ahead, NBC News reported. That presentation may lead to an indictment of the previous president within the case on state charges.
If that happens, it could be the fourth time Trump has been charged in a criminal case since March, and the second time he has been indicted in connection together with his efforts to forestall President Joe Biden from taking office.
Sterling said he testified before the special grand jury, the panel that originally investigated the case, and took part in two interviews with the DA’s officers. He said if or when he known as to testify going forward, he’ll “tell the reality and answer truthfully.”
Prosecutors in Atlanta reportedly possess text messages and emails that directly link a January 2021 voting system breach in Coffee County to members of Trump’s legal team, based on CNN Sunday. Allies of the previous president attempted to access voting systems to seek out evidence of election fraud, based on the report, in what was a part of a “top-down push by Trump’s team.”
Trump in a speech Tuesday in Recent Hampshire said he expects to be indicted in Georgia soon.
“I must have 4 by sometime next week,” Trump said.