Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis enters a room in the Fulton County

Government Center ahead of a news conference, Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in Atlanta.
Donald Trump and several allies have been indicted in Georgia over efforts

to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks at a fundraiser event

for the Alabama GOP, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, in Montgomery, Ala.

Just one month after Donald Trump’s January 2021 phone call to suggest

Georgia’s secretary of state could overturn his election loss, district attorney Fani Willis

announced she was looking into possibly illegal “attempts to influence”

the results. (AP Photo/Butch Dill, File)

FILE - Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis watches proceedings during a hearing

to decide if the final report by a special grand jury looking into possible interference

in the 2020 presidential election can be released Jan. 24, 2023, in Atlanta.

Just one month after Donald Trump’s January 2021 phone call to suggest Georgia’s

secretary of state could overturn his election loss, Willis announced she was looking

into possibly illegal “attempts to influence” the results. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

FILE - Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis poses for a portrait

on April 19, 2023, in Atlanta. Just one month after Donald Trump’s January 2021

phone call to suggest Georgia’s secretary of state could overturn his election loss,

Willis announced she was looking into possibly illegal “attempts

to influence” the results. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

FILE - Fulton County Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney Fani Willis speaks

during a news conference following sentencing for 10 of the 11 defendants

convicted in a scheme to inflate Atlanta public school students’ standardized

test scores on April 14, 2015, in Atlanta, Ga. Willis’ most prominent case

as an assistant district attorney was a RICO prosecution against a group of

Atlanta public school educators accused in a scheme to inflate students’

standardized test scores. After a seven-month trial, a jury in April 2015

convicted 11 of them on the racketeering charge.

(Kent D. Johnson/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)

FILE - Fulton County Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney Fani Willis takes notes

while questioning University of Michigan professor Brian Jacob, a statistical

analysis expert, as he testifies in a case against a group of Atlanta public school

educators accused in a scheme to inflate students’ standardized test scores

in Fulton County Superior Court, Ga., Feb. 10, 2015.

Willis’ most prominent case as an assistant district attorney was a RICO prosecution

against the group of educators. After a seven-month trial, a jury in April 2015

convicted 11 of them on the racketeering charge.

(Kent D. Johnson/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)

FILE - Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks in court in the Fulton

county courthouse, July 11, 2023, in Atlanta. Just one month after Donald Trump’s

January 2021 phone call to suggest Georgia’s secretary of state could overturn

his election loss, Willis announced she was looking into possibly illegal

“attempts to influence” the results.

(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

BY KATE BRUMBACK

Updated 10:12 PM MDT, August 14, 2023

ATLANTA (AP) — Long before the FBI began investigating Donald Trump‘s

hoarding of classified documents or Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed

a special prosecutor to probe the former president, Fani Willis was at work.

Just one month after Trump’s infamous January 2021 phone call to suggest Georgia’s

secretary of state could overturn his election loss, the Fulton County district attorney 

announced she was looking into possible illegal “attempts to influence” the results

in what has become one of America’s premier political battlegrounds. 

As she built her case,

Willis called a parade of high-profile witnesses before a special grand jury,

presiding over an investigation that was so public it seemed she would become

the first prosecutor in U.S. history to indict a former president.

She instead became the third person to levy criminal charges against Trump,

leapfrogged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Justice Department

special counsel Jack Smith.

But the indictment Willis brought late Monday against Trump and 18 associates

was the most sprawling case detailing the former president’s desperate efforts

to remain in power after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

“Their indictment alleges that rather than abide by Georgia’s legal process

for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise

to overturn Georgia’s presidential election result,” Willis said in announcing the charges.