Georgia Secretary, Other Witnesses To Testify On Donald Trump’s Hearing

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who received the January 2021 call from former President Donald Trump to “find” the votes that would reverse his loss, has been subpoenaed to testify in Monday’s hearing on the Fulton County case, along with an investigator in his office and two other lawyers who were present on the call.

US District Judge Steve Jones, a Barack Obama appointee, has shown that he would like to avoid a circus while also not giving short shrift to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ arguments to move the prosecution to federal court, Vladeck said. The orders the judge has already issued have hewed tightly to the relevant statutes and case law, and he has moved the proceedings along efficiently.

The judge is “by the book, which includes quickly and quietly,” Vladeck said.

Still, the hearing could feature some revelatory moments, as Willis appears to be preparing to put on the stand several witnesses to the pressure campaign Trump and Meadows are accused of applying to Georgia election officials.

In addition to Raffensperger, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis subpoenaed Frances Watson, who was chief investigator in the Georgia secretary of state’s office. According to the grand jury indictment, Meadows arranged a call between Trump and Watson, and texted Watson himself to offer Trump campaign funding toward speeding up a ballot review in Fulton County.

Willis also subpoenaed two lawyers who were on the Trump-Raffensperger phone call on Trump’s behalf: Kurt Hilbert and Alex Kaufman.

“The central question is: Were Meadows and Trump acting in the context of … their federal positions, or were they just candidates for office or campaign staff acting in the state of Georgia?” said Elliot Williams, a CNN legal analyst and former Justice Department official. “Raffensperger will come to testify as to, ‘Maybe I actually think these guys were acting on behalf of the campaign, not the presidency.’”