KEY EVENTS IN
KEY EVENTS IN
Trump’s Georgia
Election Case
PHOTOS BY GETTY IMAGES; REUTERS; THE EPOCH TIMES; FLICKR
14
The state’s primary election, set to be held on March 24, is moved to May 19; in-person early voting, which began March 2, is halted. Officials cite concerns over surging cases of COVID-19 as the reason for the changes. However, at the time, Georgia had only 66 confirmed cases. The election was later postponed to June 9.
2018
9
On primary election day, problems plague Fulton County, a Democrat-heavy area that includes Atlanta. Voters wait in line for hours as poll workers struggle to work with new election equipment or are delayed by late deliveries of the devices. A judge orders that, because of the problems, precincts can remain open two hours longer than usual, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The state is already investigating Fulton County after absentee ballots failed to reach voters' mailboxes after a two-month lag. Georgia lawmakers order a statewide investigation of "irregularities."
2018
2018
2
Working on behalf of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, election monitor Carter Jones begins watching Fulton County election procedures. He compiles a report based on his observations from Nov. 2 through Nov. 7, 2020, but it's not published until June 2021.
2018
Type something
3
Voters cast their ballots nationwide in the presidential election.
In Fulton County, a report of a "broken water pipe" causes a delay in processing absentee-by-mail ballots. A month later, an investigator would disclose that the water leak actually came from an overflowing urinal on the floor above the vote-counting area—and that it happened in the morning, many hours before observers said they were told to leave the arena.
Voters in Atlanta, Ga., on Nov. 3, 2020.
People questioned why such an apparently minor issue was misreported, then was used to justify shutting down vote-counting operations; some theorized that the broken-pipe report may have been used as an excuse to halt vote-counting, paving the way for behind-the-scenes shenanigans. However, officials asserted that the incident was blown out of proportion and that election workers remained in the vote-tabulating room while the leak was repaired.
According to sworn statements, Republican poll observers would later say here's what happened: Around 10:30 p.m., a woman whom they assumed was a supervisor shouted for all the employees to stop working and to return the following morning. Nearly all workers leave, and ballot-counting ceases.
David Shafer, head of the state's Republican Party, would later say that surveillance video footage showed that workers continued counting ballots until 1 a.m. "in secret," with no observers present. Officials, however, would insist that the video doesn't show fraud. They also would dispute whether people were told to leave or simply misunderstood statements about the process.
Voters in Atlanta, Ga., on Nov. 3, 2020.
Late in the evening, President Donald Trump holds a lead in Georgia and several other states that would later flip to then-candidate Joe Biden. He and his supporters have alleged that fraudulent votes padded Mr. Biden's vote totals that night and later. But election officials would assert that mail-in ballots, which were counted later, boosted Mr. Biden's tally above President Trump's total.
4
President Trump says that he believes he won Georgia if "legal votes" are counted.
In a news conference, Fulton County's elections director, Richard Barron, states that his team has already "adjudicated" the 106,000 ballots that election equipment had flagged for further review. The first in a series of eight lawsuits is filed, seeking to overturn Georgia's election results either statewide or in individual counties. All of the suits are eventually dismissed or dropped.
Election workers count ballots at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Ga., on Nov. 4, 2020.
7
Mr. Biden declares victory after several U.S. media outlets proclaim he is the winner.
Faced with allegations of voter fraud, mismanagement and irregularities, Georgia officials announce that the state will recount its ballots by hand.
11
A recount of ballots in Lawrenceville, Ga., on Nov. 13, 2020.
16
As part of the statewide audit, Fayette County becomes the second Georgia County to uncover thousands of votes that were excluded from the election results. Among 2,755 newly discovered votes, 1,577 were for President Trump; 1,128 were cast for Mr. Biden. The remainder were cast for Independent or write-in candidates. The newly discovered votes gave President Trump a net gain of 449 votes, leaving Mr. Biden in the lead.
17
Georgia's audit reaffirms Mr. Biden as the winner in the state.
19
20
Matt Braynard, who worked on data and strategy for then-candidate Mr. Trump's 2016 campaign, writes on Twitter that, with just a partial view of the state, he has identified more than 1,000 early and absentee ballots cast by Georgia voters who listed addresses of post offices or businesses as their residential addresses. Georgia election law requires voters to register with the address of their "fixed" habitation.
22
At the request of President Trump's campaign, Georgia begins a second recount, done by machine.
24
The Amistad Project, an election-integrity watchdog, files a lawsuit involving 200,000 votes in Georgia, alleging that more than 100,000 illegal votes were tallied and another 100,000 legal votes went uncounted.
25
In state and federal lawsuits, supporters of President Trump allege widespread fraud was committed; Mr. Raffensperger denies the allegations and says he feels betrayed by President Trump, for whom he voted and also made a campaign contribution, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
26
A federal judge presiding over a major Georgia lawsuit, which was filed on President Trump's behalf, orders the state to preserve its election data. But shortly thereafter, the judge overturns the ruling, on grounds that the counties, not the state, possess the election equipment. Later the same day, a third ruling allows attorneys to add the counties to the suit.
29
The latest in a series of lawsuits seeking to decertify the Georgia election is filed.
30
Georgia's Republican state senators hold a committee hearing on election issues, advocating for verification of signatures on the ballots. They hear from President Trump's team, which presents evidence of alleged fraud and other illegal activities that they argue should invalidate the election. They urge that, because of these concerns, legislators should appoint the state's electors rather than assigning the electors based on the vote counts.
3
President Trump's team airs surveillance footage that appears to show election workers telling observers to leave Fulton County's State Farm Arena on Election Night, proceeding to pull "suitcases" from beneath a table, then scanning ballots retrieved from them.
Georgia elections officials later would say that these were ballot-storage containers, not suitcases, and that the scanning activity seen on the video was normal. They also state that "the matter has already been investigated and it has been confirmed that there is no fraud."
President Trump holds a rally in Valdosta, Georgia, telling the crowd, "We won Georgia, just so you understand." He urges people to vote for Republican candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the upcoming Georgia runoff elections for U.S. Senate.
5
5
19
Before the rally, President Trump calls Mr. Kemp, asking him to convene a special legislative session to overturn the election results and appoint 16 electors who would support him instead of the disputed president-elect, Mr. Biden; the governor refuses. Mr. Kemp also turned down President Trump's request to order an audit of absentee ballots from the presidential race, saying he lacks authority to do so.
President Donald Trump at a rally in Valdosta, Ga., on Dec. 5, 2020.
Four Republican state lawmakers join President Trump in requesting the special session, but Mr. Kemp, a Republican, and his lieutenant governor, also a Republican, issue a joint statement saying the General Assembly would be violating state law if it named a replacement slate of electors after the vote tallies were certified. The men concede that the election had its flaws but they saw no problems sufficient enough to reverse
the outcome.
6
5
6
5
Raffensperger certifies the results of a second recount, again finding that Mr. Biden received more votes than President Trump. The margin of victory shrank by fewer than 1,000 votes.
7
6
5
7
5
6
5
An election official tells reporters that Fulton County has a well-documented, two-decade history of election problems that it needs to address.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
A federal judge throws out the Nov. 26 lawsuit filed by President Trump's former attorney, Sidney Powell. In addition, a county judge throws out an election challenge because paperwork and filing fees weren't correctly submitted.
The state of Texas files a lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to find the elections in four battleground states—Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin—unconstitutional. The suit alleges that all of those states made unlawful changes to their election laws.
8
29
In each of the states, election officials changed rules and procedures that only the state legislatures are empowered to change, the suit argued. The election officials stated that the new procedures were needed to adjust for the special conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Trump and his allies allege that officials used the pandemic as a smokescreen to enable cheating, such as bypassing state statutes requiring signature verification for absentee or mail-in ballots in Georgia and other states, or setting up unmanned ballot-deposit boxes.
Georgia elections official Gabriel Sterling holds a news conference, accusing President Trump and his supporters of perpetuating misinformation about the state's election. He said 132 investigations into the 2020 election were underway, plus 101 cases involving allegations of problems prior to the election.
10
An emergency petition is filed with the U.S. Supreme Court over the disputed Georgia election. Combined with proposed challenges from other states—Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona—53 electoral college votes are at issue, "enough to change the outcome of the presidential election," a court filing states.
11
The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington.
On this same day, the top court refuses to hear the Texas v. Pennsylvania case, stating that Texas lacked standing to challenge the results of elections held in other states.
The Electoral College certifies Mr. Biden as the winner of the election. Republican electors in seven states, including Georgia, cast alternative slates of votes for President Trump, attempting to preserve a victory for him if his election challenges prevail.
14
Mark Meadows, then President Trump's White House chief of staff, writes on Twitter that "several members of Congress just finished a meeting in the Oval Office" with President Trump, "preparing to fight back against mounting evidence of voter fraud."
21
2
President Trump and others participate in a phone call with Mr. Raffensperger, challenging the state's election results. Later, it is revealed that President Trump was involved in at least three such phone calls with various Georgia officials after the Nov. 3, 2020, general election. Unbeknownst to President Trump, the call is recorded.
President Donald Trump (L) and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R).
3
Just before 9 a.m., President Trump writes on Twitter: "I spoke to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger yesterday about Fulton County and voter fraud in Georgia. He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the 'ballots under table' scam, ballot destruction, out of state 'voters,' dead voters, and more. He has no clue!"
About three hours later, The Washington Post publishes a story about the hourlong phone call, initially releasing only excerpts of the audio recording.
The report causes an uproar over President Trump's statement that he wants to "find" enough votes to overturn then-candidate Mr. Biden's margin of fewer than 12,000 votes, which was 0.23 percent of the nearly 5 million Georgia ballots cast in the race.
Soon after news breaks about the call, a Georgia prosecutor, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, begins investigating whether President Trump or others may have criminally interfered with the state's election results.
Jason Miller, a campaign adviser to President Trump says the full recording and transcript shows the president was "spot-on in his criticisms of the terrible job Raffensperger did."
4
An attorney for President Trump condemns the release of the audio recording, saying the discussion was supposed to be a confidential discussion in an attempt to settle a pending lawsuit. Mr. Raffensperger, however, said Mr. Trump broke confidentiality with his Jan. 2 tweet about the discussion.
The attorney for President Trump said the president also made specific allegations of problems that were crying out for further investigation.
During the call, the president said it was his understanding that up to 300,000 ballots "were dropped mysteriously into the rolls," and he thinks that fraudulent signatures may have been placed on the ballots.
In addition, there were 4,502 "voters who voted but who weren't on the voter registration list," plus "18,325 vacant-address voters," the president said. He also alleged that there were 4,925 out-of-staters who voted improperly.
Legal analyst and Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz says news outlets took snippets of the Trump–Raffensperger call out-of-context and that he saw no apparent crime inherent in the president's remarks.
5
Mainstream media outlets characterized the call as an attempted shakedown to persuade Mr. Raffensberger to illegally intervene.
The Georgia GOP votes to censure Mr. Raffensperger. The party accused him of "undermining the security of our elections by allowing mass mailings of absentee applications by his office and third parties which created opportunities for fraud and overwhelmed election offices; rendering accurate signature-matching nearly impossible; allowing ballot drop boxes without proper chain of custody; and ignoring sworn affidavits and disregarding evidence of voter fraud."
Mr. Raffensperger's office responds via WSB-TV: "The secretary of state's office, county election directors, and the tens of thousands of poll workers across the state worked to ensure that democracy was upheld. It is the job of counties to run elections and the secretary of state's office's job to report those election results—it is the job of the political parties to deliver wins for their candidates. Let's not confuse the two."
Page 2
Amid persistent allegations of election irregularities in Georgia and other states, a massive crowd of President Trump's supporters rally in Washington to hear him speak and protest against Congress certifying the election results; while he is still speaking, some protesters breach the U.S. Capitol and clash with police.
6
Capitol police evacuate lawmakers until the protesters disperse. Several hours later, after police declare the buildings secure, Congress resumes its session.
A large group
of protesters outside the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021.
Vice President Mike Pence refuses to challenge or delay the certification of the votes, against the wishes of President Trump and his supporters.
Democrat state and federal lawmakers begin calling for Mr. Trump to be ousted from office.
Meanwhile, in Georgia, protesters gather and Mr. Raffensperger is evacuated from the Capitol due to concerns over his safety.
In the early morning hours, Congress certifies Mr. Biden's victory after hours of debate over alleged election irregularities in states such as Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
7
In a joint statement, Democrat leaders of the House and Senate disclose that they are urging Mr. Pence “to invoke the 25th Amendment, which would allow the vice president and a majority of the cabinet to remove the president for his incitement of insurrection and the danger he still poses.”
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee introduces articles of impeachment against President Trump on the charge of "incitement of insurrection." He is ultimately acquitted by the Senate on Feb. 13. (Democrats' previous attempt to impeach President Trump over alleged collusion with Russians failed a year prior.)
Mr. Raffensperger tells CBS News that it seemed to him that the president and his team were trying to "cajole" him into "doing something."
10
Seven Hills Strategies, an independent, nonpartisan election monitor, issues a report declaring that no evidence of "fraudulent conduct" was found during 270 hours spent observing Fulton County's 2020 election processes. However, the report cites "persistent chain-of-custody issues" with absentee ballot processing. Further, the report found other problems, and said it was “very concerning” that the ballots were delivered "in unsecured mail carts" to the county's vote tabulation center at State Farm Arena.
12
Mr. Pence rejects more calls for him to remove President Trump from office under the 25th Amendment.
19
Mr. Biden takes the oath of office, installing him as the 46th president of the United States; former President Donald Trump does not attend the ceremony.
20
President Joe Biden is sworn
in as the 46th U.S. president on Jan. 20, 2021.
The New York Times reports that a former assistant attorney general, Jeffrey Clark, had talked with President Trump about bolstering challenges to the 2020 election by ousting a top Department of Justice (DOJ) official and directing the DOJ to investigate election-fraud allegations.
22
The Office of Inspector General announces it intends to investigate whether any current or former DOJ officials improperly attempted to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
25
8
Details emerge about Ms. Willis' probe. Citing unnamed sources, CBS News reports that Ms. Willis was seeking documents from Mr. Raffensperger's office about the Jan. 2 phone call.
11
Georgia election officials refer 35 alleged voter-fraud cases for prosecution. Some of the cases predate the 2020 election.
Fulton County votes to fire its elections director, Richard Barron, after the 2020 election revealed vulnerabilities in the system, inefficiencies, and sloppiness.
16
Several media outlets, including The Associated Press, issue corrections of reports that had been circulating for two months. The corrections acknowledge that sources provided erroneous information about President Trump’s exact words during a call with an investigator. That call preceded President Trump's Jan. 2 conversation with Mr. Raffensperger.
15
The AP corrects its Jan. 9 story, stating that a recording of the call was finally released in March, revealing that President Trump did not press an investigator to "find the fraud," nor did he state that doing so would make the investigator a national hero. Instead, President Trump said that the investigator would find "unbelievable" things in Fulton County and "When the right answer comes out, you'll be praised," the AP says.
A member of Raffensperger's staff tells The Epoch Times: "Information about the content of the call [with the investigator] was never presented as a word-for-word transcript."
16
25
Voting-rights groups file suit against the election reform law, alleging it is part of Republican efforts to suppress Democrat votes.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signs a voting law on March 25, 2021.
28
Mr. Raffensperger says his office will investigate Fulton County over missing chain-of-custody documents involving the movement of ballots from drop boxes.
14
House Democrats release a report, "President Trump Pressure Campaign on the Department of Justice." The document divulges that, in emails, then-President Trump, through surrogates, pressured the DOJ to investigate the 2020 election results and wanted the Supreme Court to order a new election in swing states, including Georgia.
15
A judge from an outside county dismisses seven claims in a Fulton County election lawsuit, but allows two to proceed, requiring the county to produce digital images of 150,000 mail-in ballots.
24
Mr. Raffensperger threatens to have the state take over Fulton County's election system unless the county fires top election officials.
15
Mr. Raffensperger announces the removal of 100,000 names from Georgia's voter-registration rolls, saying they had been out of touch with election officials for at least five years or were believed to have invalid residential addresses.
19
Under the newly-enacted election law, the state elections board appoints a bipartisan panel to review Fulton County's election management. The law authorizes the state's election board to audit election management in any county, upon request of local lawmakers.
18
The new review panel issues its report, concluding that Fulton County "has shown improvement" in the way it has run elections from 2020 to 2022. Therefore, the panel says, the state of Georgia does not need to step in to fix the county's problems. The report recommends that the county continue to enhance poll-worker training, encourage "order, organization and control," and ensure compliance with state regulations on early tabulation and ballot review procedures.
13
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (C) in Atlanta, Ga.
20
The chief judge in Fulton County approves Ms. Willis' request and assigns Judge Robert McBurney to oversee the grand jury, whose work would begin in May and could continue for up to a year.
24
Mr. Raffensperger announces that he is investigating concerns over ballot-harvesting and noncitizens occupying voter rolls.
27
2
A judge rules that Ms. Willis' entire office is disqualified from pursuing a case against Sen. Burt Jones, an ally of President Trump. He is one of 16 people who signed documents to serve as alternate Georgia electors. The judge says Ms. Willis created an insurmountable conflict of interest when she publicly supported Charles Bailey, a political opponent of Mr. Jones. The judge directs the state attorney general to appoint another prosecutor to decide which, if any, charges Mr. Jones would face.
25
Ms. Willis files a document seeking additional testimony and defending her investigation, which includes testimony from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows; the president's former attorneys, John Eastman and Sidney Powell, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
25
9
Former President Trump announces he will seek to become the Republican party's nominee for a third time, hoping to unseat President Biden in the 2024 election.
15
Former President Donald Trump announces his
re-election bid for president.
President Biden's DOJ appoints Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate the former president's post-election conduct. Attorney General Merrick Garland acknowledges that the former president's campaign announcement helped trigger that action.
18
"Based on recent developments, including the former president's announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election, and the sitting president's stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel," Mr. Garland said.
22
Mr. Smith's office had issued similar subpoenas for officials in other contested states: Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania.
The special grand jury wraps up its investigation and issues a final report and findings, a judge's order shows. The grand jury recommends that the report be released to the public.
9
Ms. Willis urges the judge to keep the grand jury's report sealed and that "decisions are imminent."
24
Portions of the special purpose grand jury's report are entered into the public court record. Notably, the grand jury stated that "perjury may have been committed" by one or more witnesses who testified during the panel's secret proceedings. The grand jury also stated that most of its 23 members believed "no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election."
16
The Lewis R. Slaton Courthouse in Atlanta, Ga.
The Associated Press publishes a story about its interview with the grand jury's foreperson, Emily Kohrs. "During a lengthy recent interview, Kohrs complied with the judge's instructions not to discuss details related to the jury’s deliberations. She also declined to talk about unpublished portions of the panel's final report," the AP reports. Ms. Kohrs said the panel, which included 23 regular members and three alternates, was allowed to proceed as long as a quorum of 16 members was present.
21
Later in the day, The New York Times publishes a story about its own interview with Ms. Kohrs, asserting that she said the grand jury not only considered the Jan. 2 phone call but also Trump's role in "recruiting a slate of bogus presidential electors." Ms. Kohrs went on to give additional high-profile media interviews.
Critics on both sides of the political divide criticize Ms. Kohrs's so-called "media tour," saying that, if anyone is indicted, defense lawyers can use her statements to allege grand jury impropriety.
24
Mr. Raffensperger's office releases a report, finding no evidence to support allegations of fraudulent election activity at State Farm Arena on Election Night. Investigators from three police agencies and the FBI reviewed security camera footage and conducted multiple interviews.
7
The report concludes that the Fulton County's elections board "put specific processes in place to store ballot boxes underneath tables." No evidence was found to support that election workers deviated from those procedures, the report says.
A polling station in Georgia.
"The initial tabulation, the statewide audit involving a manual hand count of every ballot, and the machine recount reveal there was no evidence to suggest fraudulent ballots were scanned and counted in the final tabulated results for the November 2020 General Election in Fulton County," the report says.
The judge presiding over the Fulton County special grand jury orders Ms. Willis to respond to President Trump’s request seeking to disqualify her from further investigation of the alleged election interference.
27
Ms. Willis is said to be using anti-racketeering laws to target President Trump as well as his allies.
12
Ms. Willis writes a letter stating that she expects to release, between July 11 and Sept. 1, "charging decisions" related to "possible criminal interference" in the 2020 general election.
24
The Georgia Court of Appeals revives a lawsuit alleging that fraudulent or counterfeit ballots were found in Fulton County during the 2020 election. One of the plaintiffs alleging fraud, Fulton County resident Garland Favorito, issues a press release declaring: "The citizens of Georgia have been victimized for well over two years by false claims that there is no evidence of election fraud."
11
Elbert P. Tuttle United States Court of Appeals building in Atlanta, Ga.
Ms. Willis sends a letter to Fulton County's chief judge, explaining that most of her staff will be working remotely for three weeks beginning July 31.
18
27
11
Georgia's highest court refuses to block Ms. Willis from prosecuting President Trump, unanimously rejecting his attorneys' July 14 petition asking the court to intervene and to throw out the special grand jury's report.
17
News reports indicate that FBI investigators have spoken with election leaders in Georgia, New Mexico, Michigan, and Georgia.
18
Mr. Guiliani decides against contesting allegations that he made false and defamatory statements against two Fulton County election workers. The women allege Mr. Guiliani wrongfully claimed that they were perpetrating fraud when they removed the ballot containers from underneath tables and counted them at State Farm Arena on Election Night. The Epoch Times reports: "His adviser says it's a legal tactic to move the case forward to where he can file a motion to dismiss."
25
A Fulton County judge dismisses President Trump's attempt to disqualify Ms. Willis from the case and denies his attempt to block any indictments arising from her investigation. In the ruling, Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney says President Trump's legal team failed to show that she was unfairly biased against him.
31
The judge acknowledges that both President Trump and Georgia elector Cathleen Latham will be irreparably harmed if they're indicted. However, the judge says they both lack "standing" to win a pre-emptive order against Ms. Willis.
The former president's lawyers are planning
an appeal.
Tensions are reported to be rising in Atlanta as Ms. Willis promises a decision on the grand jury's election-interference probe by month's end.
1
President Trump and 18 co-defendants are indicted by a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia. The 98-page indictment (pdf) charges President Trump with 13 counts, including violation of the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization
