Bad news for Donald Trump as election fraud investigation homes in on lawyers
Atlanta, Georgia - Attorneys who aided in Donald Trump's efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election have reportedly come under increasing scrutiny from the office of special counsel Jack Smith.
Prosecutors from Smith's team interviewed Trump's one-time personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani for about eight hours.
They also issued inquiries centered on Sidney Powell, a pro-Trump lawyer who spread wild election misinformation, and also questioned Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, about Giuliani, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Smith has been tasked with leading Justice Department inquiries into Trump’s treatment of classified documents and his role in inspiring the deadly January 6 attack on the Capitol. The classified documents probe produced a 37-count indictment against Trump in Florida last month.
Last year, a federal judge in California said Trump's effort to reverse his presidential election loss likely amounted to a crime.
Raffensperger, a Republican, has said Trump urged him to "find" the votes to reverse President Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in Georgia in the 2020 election.
Trump election probe nearing it's conclusion
Smith’s team met with Raffensperger in Atlanta on Wednesday, according to Raffensperger's office. A spokesman for Raffensperger, Robert Sinners, told The New York Daily News he could not confirm specific details about the content of the interview.
Giuliani spoke voluntarily with Smith's team under what is known as a proffer agreement, WSJ reported. Such agreements – also called "queen for a day" deals – allow witnesses to provide information to prosecutors in exchange for some level of legal immunity.
Norman Eisen, a Brookings Institution fellow who worked as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment, said defense lawyers do not typically allow their clients to enter proffer agreements unless they intend to fully cooperate with the case in pursuit of immunity or a plea deal.
The interviews by Smith's team with key figures in Trump's push to reverse the election could signal that the investigation is approaching its conclusion.
"All signs are that he's getting to the end," Eisen said of Smith. "This was an attempted coup – not using tanks and guns and soldiers, but using statutes and cases and lawyers. So, it's logical that those lawyers would be the focus."
Cover photo: Collage: ALEX WONG & Sean Rayford / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP