COLUMBUS, Ga. — Fresh off a federal indictment, Donald Trump has set his aim on those he's labeled as enemies — including the Atlanta prosecutor leading an investigation that could end with the former president facing additional criminal charges this summer.
Trump's speech at Saturday's 2023 Georgia Republican Convention in Columbus, Georgia, touched on a wide range of topics.
At the end of a nearly hour-and-a-half speech, Trump had lashed out at Pres. Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, the FBI, the Department of Justice, news outlets, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and other prosecutors. The talking points are the framework for the former president's 2024 bid to retake the White House.
"I put everything on the line. I will never yield," Trump said. "They're not coming after me. They're coming after you, and I am just standing in their way. Here I am."
Trump's Columbus appearance was his first since he was indicted Friday on 37 federal charges in relation to his handling of classified documents at his Florida estate. Jack Smith, special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, has led the investigation. Trump's unprecedented arraignment is set for Tuesday in Miami.
It's the first time in U.S. history a former president has faced federal charges.
Trump spent the first portion of his speech attacking the indictment, referring to it as a "joke" and calling Smith "deranged."
"The ridiculous and baseless indictment of me by the Biden administration's weaponized department of injustice will go down among the most horrific abuses of power in the history of this country," Trump said.
Trump then turned his attention to Willis, calling her a "lunatic" and "Marxist" for her investigation into potential criminal interference in Georgia's 2020 election. Trump repeated unsubstantiated claims that the results were rigged. Georgia election officials have repeatedly said that no widespread fraud occurred.
Trump later promised to completely overhaul the Department of Justice to investigate "every radical District Attorney."
"Your local District Attorney Fani Willis is spending all of her energy, all of her money, all of her time, trying to get Trump," he said. "Let's get Trump."
Absent from the weekends events were high-ranking Georgia Republicans like Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who have drawn the ire of the former president in the past.
Trump briefly criticized Raffensperger Saturday, but he didn't target Kemp despite recent criticism from the Georgia governor. Kemp went after the former president earlier this month following Trump's supportive social media post about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
State GOP officials who spoke with 11Alive Saturday said concerns about party split and division were overblown. Republicans, they said, would unite behind whichever candidate wins the 2024 primary.
"I don't think there's as much of a disconnect as much the media says there is," said Alton Russell, the former chair of the Muscogee County Republican Party. "After today, when we elect our new leadership... I think we will unite behind whoever the nominee is after the primary and also behind Gov. Kemp."
Josh McKoon, a former state senator from Columbus who was elected as the party's new chairman later in the evening, told 11Alive that the former president's recent legal troubles are the result of selective prosecution by partisan prosecutors.
"It's a sad day for America because when you undermine the rule of law — that has serious consequences for our nation," he said.
The classified documents case marks the second time Trump has been indicted this year. The first indictment came in March when the New York Attorney General Alvin Bragg announced the former president faced 34 felony charges of falsifying business records.
A third indictment against the former president could come in the next few months. Willis, the lead prosecutor in Fulton County, previously said that potential indictments against Trump and his allies would come between mid-July and the start of September.
Willis told high-ranking county officials in May that much of her staff would work remotely in the first half of August. She also requested that county judges not hear trials during part of that period.
The letter made no mention of Trump, but it fuels speculation that August is when a Fulton County grand jury will make its decision on election-related indictments.
Trump's Jan. 2, 2021 call to Raffensperger where Trump asked the state's top election official to "find" 11,780 votes prompted the investigation.
Over the course of the investigation, its scope expanded to include several key events:
- The 16 Republicans who cast Electoral College votes falsely claiming Trump won the election
- The pressure Trump and his allies may have placed on Raffensperger, Gov. Brian Kemp, Secretary of State investigator Frances Watson and other key state officials to change the election's outcome
- The resignation of U.S. Attorney Byung “BJay” Pak in January 2021
- The threats and pressure Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and daughter Shaye Moss were subjected to after the election
- The breach of Coffee County election data in January 2021
In January 2022, Fulton County judges granted Willis' request to form a special purpose grand jury to handle the investigation. Its work began in May 2022 and ended January 2023.
The jury heard from 75 witnesses during its probe and recommended that its final report be published. Much of that document remains secret per the order of Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney.
Jury foreperson Emily Kohrs told media outlets earlier this year that the jury recommended indictments for more than a dozen people. Kohrs did not reveal which people the jury recommended criminal charges against.
Key elements of Willis' investigation remain unresolved as summer comes.
Trump's motion to bury the report and derail the case is still being considered by a Fulton County judge. At least half of the Trump electors have accepted immunity deals, according to court records.
The Washington Post reported last week that Willis sought records and other information from two firms the Trump campaign hired to investigate alleged voter fraud in Georgia and other states following the election.
The firms buried their findings, and Fulton County prosecutors issued a subpoena for one of the firms as of last week, the Post reports.
When speaking about the various accusations leveled against him, Trump said his opponents have launched one "witch hunt and hoax after another" to stop his movement.
"Witch hunt. Witch hunt. Scam. Hoax," he said.