Georgia's Fulton County prepares for possible Trump indictment as some question impact
A fourth criminal case against the former president looms in Georgia.
ATLANTA -- In Georgia's Fulton County, barriers have been put up, the road in front of the county courthouse is closed and court case hearings have been encouraged to go virtual as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to soon announce charging decisions in her investigation into former President Donald Trump and his allies' alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the state.
Willis recently signaled that her team is "ready to go" as she prepares to present evidence to a grand jury that could decide whether to approve charges against Trump, who has already been indicted three times in the special counsel's investigation into election interference, the special counsel's classified documents probe, and the Manhattan DA's hush money case.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has denied all wrongdoing.
Willis' investigation centers around Trump's Jan. 2, 2021, phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during which Trump urged him to "find 11,780 votes" – the exact number the former president needed to win in the state.
Despite the hubbub, some in Fulton County have questioned the purpose of another indictment, voicing sentiments of a redundant political cycle that they say won't impact their vote much.
'How many times has Trump been indicted already?'
In political settings, such as a state election board meeting and county party meeting, people expressed strong opinions about the implications of another Trump indictment, whereas others walking around in parks and shopping centers were less aware of the ins and outs of Willis' investigation.
"How many times has Trump been indicted already? Why are we going after something that has no impact on Fulton County whatsoever," Julie Allen, a retired education worker, told ABC News after a state election board meeting where she spoke advocating for hand count, hand-marked paper ballots for elections.
Allen argued there were other issues she wanted county officials to focus on that she said would better serve the people of Fulton County, calling investigations into Trump "a shiny penny."
"There's a huge backlog in cases, we have issues with the jail. We need a new jail, funding for a new jail, air conditioning went out in the jail -- all of these kinds of stuff," said Allen.
"I voted for Fani Willis. I didn't vote for her to go on this rabbit trail. All the money. It's a cost to Fulton County for what? For what end? For what purpose?" Allen questioned.
District attorneys should 'chew gum and walk at the same time'
Yet still, many in Fulton County, a heavily-Democratic area where President Biden captured over 70% of the county's vote in 2020, believe Willis' investigation is imperative.
"If you break the law, especially if you break the law in my state, you deserve to be held accountable. And I'm glad that somebody is looking to hold him accountable," Duo Haynes told ABC News at a Young Democrats of Atlanta meeting.
From a young age, Haynes said his parents used to take him to the ballot box during elections, instilling a strong foundation about the significance of the democratic process. For him, Willis' investigation is "the right thing" to do to protect America's democratic values.
"When you start trying to cheat the system, find ways outside of the democratic system, democratic norms, it upsets me," he said.
Asked about the criticisms Willis has received, Haynes said it should be expected that district attorneys work on multiple cases simultaneously.
"I feel like we should want our elected officials, especially our DA and law enforcement, to chew gum and walk at the same time. If our DA office can't prosecute two crimes at the same time, she shouldn't be DA, but ... she's done a pretty decent job of holding people accountable" said Haynes.
The indictments haven't had much impact on Trump's favorability ratings. His net "favorable" rating remained relatively stable before and after the latest indictment, according to FiveThirtyEight's polling average.
Republican strategist Janelle King argued the disinterest in Trump's investigations for some stems from the fact that prosecutors haven't "successfully shared how this directly impacts people on a day-to-day basis."
King said Trump's political messaging also contributes to his rising poll numbers in the GOP primary race amid multiple indictments. Trump remains the front-runner for the Republican nomination in national polls with nearly 53% compared to his nearest opponent, Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has 14%, according to FiveThirtyEight's latest polling average.
"This isn't a Republican vs. Democrat thing. This isn't a Trump vs. Biden thing. This is the fact that where Trump has figured out how to highlight the small, and in some cases, the large distress that people have with the government," said King.
"You do have the MAGA voters that are extremely invested in the person, but then you have a lot of independent voters ... extremely invested in the fight. And I think the mistake that's being made is assuming that everyone who's supporting the president at this time is supporting the person."
Trump fatigue
If Trump is indicted in Fulton County, it would be his fourth indictment in less than six months, leaving some with Trump fatigue.
"There's a lot to keep up with, and it all just turns into one. You're not sure where, like, which problem is this at and when did this happen. It's all colliding," Skylar Hillary told ABC News outside Atlanta's Ponce City Market.
Heading into 2024, Hillary said she wanted to see politicians focus less on the indictments Trump faces, and more on issues she says have a greater impact on the communities they govern, pointing to the recent Supreme Court decisions overturning abortion rights and ending of affirmative action in colleges.
Though Hillary and others said they want to see Trump be held accountable, they questioned if it would actually happen and expressed concerns about the amount of resources going into his investigations.
"At this point, this man just needs to go away," a woman named Kay told ABC News. She said her more pressing concerns surrounded issues of homelessness and crime in the area.
Kay said after constantly hearing about investigations into Trump, she now only follows "what I need to know," adding that she's more focused on the end result for him rather than following daily proceedings.
"Let me see something stick," Kay said. "… Until I see that man behind the jail, I don't really care."
Sentiments like those are why many politicians on both sides of the aisle have largely avoided bringing up the Trump indictment. An indictment in Fulton County could put the spotlight back on Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, who Trump pressured in 2020 to overturn the election results, calling for a special legislative session to appoint new electors who would support Trump over Joe Biden.
After Kemp refused, Trump publicly bashed him.
In November, Kemp testified before a Fulton County special grand jury, and in July, Special Counsel Jack Smith's office contacted Gov. Kemp in relation to their election probe.
"It felt like Trump was fighting him, but he wasn't fighting back. He was just standing true in who he was whether you agree with what he was saying or not. He's been pretty consistent in the fact that he didn't believe that there was mass election fraud," King said.
Speaking at a Republican National Committee retreat earlier this year, Kemp urged Republicans to move on from the 2020 presidential election. While Kemp didn't name Trump, he said "not a single swing voter in a single swing state will vote for our nominee if they choose to talk about the 2020 election being stolen," according to reports from CNN.
Many Georgia Democrats have stayed mum on the topic, slamming Trump on his record on issues such as infrastructure and the electric vehicle industry rather than focusing on his legal troubles.
Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, told ABC News that for most voters, he doesn't think Trump's legal woes are "going to be an issue" and that Democrats are best to focus on the future, instead of Trump's indictments.
"They don't want to hear Democrats running on Trump. What they want to hear is what's going on with these high prices, the cost of housing, racial justice ... those are the things that we want to talk about," Albright said.
Trump has denied any criminal wrongdoing, accusing prosecutors of delaying their investigation to "interfere" with his 2024 presidential campaign, and has specifically accused Willis of refusing to focus on crime in the county.
Should an indictment be handed up in Fulton County, Haynes said it'll provide a public opportunity for both sides to present their arguments.
"I'm glad that at least there'll be a day in court where we can like lay it all out and figure out, you know, the rule of law and where we stand."
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