Here’s a timeline of events leading up to Donald Trump’s indictment in Georgia
The indictment in Georgia against former President Donald Trump is photographed Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia prosecutors late Monday indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 associates over efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. Here is a look at key dates for the investigation:
____
Nov. 3, 2020: General election.
Nov. 7, 2020: Democrat Joe Biden declared winner in presidential race, defeating incumbent Republican President Donald Trump.
Nov. 9, 2020: Georgia U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, both facing runoff elections in January, call for the resignation of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican. They cite “failures in Georgia elections” without providing any details.
Nov. 11, 2020: Raffensperger announces a full hand count of the votes in the presidential race in Georgia to satisfy a new audit requirement in state law.
Nov. 13, 2020: U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham calls Raffensperger. The secretary of state said the South Carolina Republican asked him whether he had the power to reject certain absentee ballots, which he interpreted as a suggestion to toss legally cast ballots. Graham has denied any wrongdoing.
Nov. 19, 2020: Georgia completes a hand recount of votes in the presidential election that was undertaken to satisfy an audit requirement in state law. The Associated Press calls Georgia for Biden.
Nov. 20, 2020: Georgia officials certify election results showing Biden won the presidential race in the state.
Nov. 21, 2020: Trump campaign requests a recount of the votes in the presidential race in Georgia. State law allows a candidate to request a recount if the margin is less than 0.5%.
Dec. 1, 2020: U.S. Attorney General William Barr tells the AP that the U.S. Justice Department had uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election.
Dec. 3, 2020: Former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and others speak during Georgia Senate subcommittee meeting. Giuliani alleges suitcases of fraudulent ballots were introduced as votes were being counted at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on election night.
Dec. 4, 2020: Barr asks U.S. Attorney BJay Pak in Atlanta to investigate allegations of election fraud made by Giuliani the day before.
Dec. 5, 2020: Trump calls Kemp urging him to call a special session, and then spreads baseless allegations of election fraud during a rally meant to encourage people to vote for the incumbent Republicans — Loeffler and Perdue — in the upcoming U.S. Senate runoff election.
Dec. 7, 2020: Georgia certifies election results showing Biden victory for a second time after completing a machine recount of the presidential race requested by Trump’s campaign.
Dec. 8, 2020: Texas attorney general files lawsuit asking U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate Electoral College votes in battleground states that Trump lost. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr rejects it as “legally and factually wrong about Georgia.” Trump calls Carr and warns him not to encourage other Republican officials to reject the Texas lawsuit.
Dec. 10, 2020: Giuliani and others speak during Georgia House subcommittee meeting, perpetuating false allegations of election fraud in the state.
Dec. 14, 2020: The official Democratic electors meet in the Georgia state Senate chamber to cast the state’s 16 Electoral College votes for Biden. Meanwhile, a group of 16 Republicans meet at Georgia Capitol to sign a certificate falsely stating that Trump won and that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.
Dec. 22, 2020: White House chief of staff Mark Meadows visits Cobb County, where an audit of signatures on absentee ballot envelopes was being conducted. While there, he meets Frances Watson, lead investigator in Georgia secretary of state’s office, and gets her phone number.
Dec. 23, 2020: Trump calls Watson and urges her to look at Fulton County, saying she would “find things that are gonna be unbelievable.” He also tells her, “When the right answer comes out, you’ll be praised.”
Jan. 1, 2021: Fani Willis takes office as Fulton County district attorney after defeating her former boss in the Democratic primary and running unopposed in the November election.
Jan. 2, 2021: Trump calls Raffensperger and suggests the secretary of state can help him “find” the votes needed to overturn Trump’s loss in the state.
Jan. 4, 2021: Pak, the U.S. attorney in Atlanta, abruptly resigns after learning that Trump felt he wasn’t doing enough to investigate allegations of election fraud and wanted to fire him.
Jan. 5, 2021: Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock defeat incumbent Republicans Loeffler and Perdue in a runoff election for Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats.
Jan. 6, 2021: Trump supporters break into the U.S. Capitol and storm the halls trying to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s election.
Jan. 7, 2021: A computer forensics team travels to rural Coffee County in south Georgia to copy software and data from voting equipment. Emails and records show Sidney Powell and other Trump-allied attorneys helped arrange the trip.
Jan. 18-19, 2021: Doug Logan, who founded Cyber Ninjas, the company that led Arizona Republicans’ controversial 2020 election review, and Jeff Lenberg, visit the Coffee County elections office. Lenberg returns the following week. Both men had been active in efforts to cast doubt on the 2020 election results.
Jan. 20, 2021: Biden inaugurated as president.
Feb. 10, 2021: Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, sends letters to top Georgia elected officials telling them she’s opened a criminal investigation into “attempts to influence” the state’s 2020 general election and instructs them to preserve evidence.
Jan. 20, 2022: Willis asks for a special grand jury to be impaneled for her investigation.
Jan. 24, 2022: Fulton County Superior Court judges approve Willis’ request for a special grand jury.
May 2, 2022: Special grand jury seated.
June 2, 2022: Raffensperger testifies before the special grand jury.
July 5, 2022: Willis seeks to compel testimony before the special grand jury from people close to Trump, including Giuliani and Graham. This signals that the investigation is zeroing in on close Trump associates.
July 25, 2022: The judge overseeing the special grand jury rules that Willis cannot call state Sen. Burt Jones before the special grand jury or seek charges against him because of a conflict of interest stemming from her hosting a fundraiser for Jones’ Democratic opponent in the race for lieutenant governor. Jones, who was elected lieutenant governor in the November 2022 general election, was one of the 16 Republican fake electors.
Aug. 11, 2022: Prominent Atlanta criminal defense attorney Drew Findling confirms that he is part of a legal team hired by Trump to represent him in matters related to the special grand jury.
Aug. 15, 2022: Lawyers for Giuliani confirm that they’ve been told their client is a target of the investigation.
Aug. 17, 2022: Giuliani testifies before the special grand jury.
Aug. 25, 2022: Willis files paperwork seeking to have more Trump allies, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and lawyer Sidney Powell, testify before the special grand jury.
Aug. 31, 2022: Lawyer John Eastman appears before the special grand jury.
Oct. 7, 2022: The day before beginning a monthlong pause in public activity related to the investigation ahead of the midterm elections, Willis files paperwork to compel the testimony of another round of Trump associates, including former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Nov. 22, 2022: Graham appears before the special grand jury for questioning after losing a fight to avoid testifying that went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dec. 8, 2022: Former national security adviser Michael Flynn testifies before the special grand jury.
Dec. 15, 2022: The special grand jury completes its final report.
Jan. 9, 2023: Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversaw the special grand jury, issues an order dissolving the panel, saying it had completed its work and submitted a final report to him.
Jan. 24, 2023: McBurney holds a hearing to determine whether the special grand jury’s report can be made public as the grand jurors had recommended. Prosecutors urged him to keep it secret until decisions had been made on whether charges would be sought, while a coalition of media organizations pressed for its release.
Feb. 13, 2023: McBurney orders the partial release of the special grand jury’s report. The judge said the introduction and conclusion of the report, as well as a section in which the grand jurors expressed concerns that some witnesses may have lied under oath would be released three days later. But he said sections of the report that recommended specific charges for specific people would remain under wraps for the time being.
Feb. 16, 2023: Part of the special grand jury report is made public. The grand jurors wrote that they believed that “one or more witnesses” committed perjury and urged local prosecutors to bring charges. They also said they found no evidence of widespread election fraud in the 2020 election in Georgia.
Feb. 21, 2023: Special grand jury foreperson Emily Kohrs speaks out for the first time in an interview with The Associated Press. That is followed by interviews in other print and television news outlets. Kohrs gives a behind-the-scenes look at the special grand jury’s workings and said that the panel recommended multiple people be indicted.
Feb. 23, 2023: The first extensive interviews with Trump’s legal team in Georgia are published by the AP and other news outlets. Lawyers Drew Findling and Jennifer Little blast the special grand jury investigation, saying it was unreliable and calling it “a circus.”
April 24, 2023: Willis writes in a letter to Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat and other law enforcement officials that she expects to announce charging decisions in her investigation between July 11 and Sept. 1, 2023. She cites a desire “to ensure that our law enforcement community is ready to protect the public.”
May 18, 2023: Willis sends a letter to the county Superior Court chief judge indicating that she planned to have much of her staff work remotely during the first three weeks of August and asking that judges not schedule trials and in-person hearings during part of that time. The letter was widely seen as a suggestion that she would seek charges in her investigation during that period.
July 11, 2023: Two grand juries are seated in Fulton County.
August 14, 2023: Trump and 18 other people are indicted.