Judge Calls Trump ‘Rumpelstiltskin,’ Clears Way for Georgia Indictment as Prosecutor Says She’s ‘Ready to Go’

District Attorney Fani Willis’s announcement that her “work is accomplished” and that “we’re ready to go” in respect of charges relating to efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results certainly puts in focus the legal peril — which now appears imminent — that faces President Trump in the Peachtree State.Ms. Willis’s assertion of readiness, in comments to NBC, comes as the judge overseeing the case, Robert McBurney, on Monday rejected the former president’s efforts to quash a grand jury report and disqualify Ms. Willis. This finding, on the heels of a similar ruling from Georgia’s supreme court, clears the field for a possible indictment, which would be the third for Mr. Trump this year. In regard to Ms. Willis’s Georgia prosecution, Judge McBurney ruled, “[W]hile being the subject (or even target) of a highly publicized criminal investigation is likely an unwelcome and unpleasant experience, no court ever has held that that status alone provides a basis for the courts to interfere with or halt the investigation.” Alluding to Mr. Trump’s political resilience, Judge McBurney reached for an analogy from the Brothers Grimm, musing that “for some, being the subject of a criminal investigation can, a la Rumpelstiltskin, be turned into golden political capital, making it seem more providential than problematic.” He calls a possible indictment “speculative and unrealized harm.”The judge writes that the “possibility” of charges is not enough to “create a controversy, cause an injury, or confer standing,” all requirements for a court to step in and halt an ongoing investigation. He notes that “prosecution is an executive branch function” and that the “judicial branch should involve itself sparingly and delicately in the work that precedes formal charges.” Judge McBurney adds: “Guessing at what that picture might look like before the investigative dots are connected may be a popular game for the media and blogosphere, but it is not a proper role for the courts and formal legal argumentation.” Referring to Mr. Trump’s objections, he finds that the “time is not now and the forum is not here” to vindicate them.Judge McBurney also sounds a warning about Mr. Trump’s public rhetoric attacking the case, calling Ms. Willis’s communications a “marked and refreshing contrast to the stream of personal invective” offered by the former president. Thus far, no prosecutor probing the former president has requested a gag order to stanch his commentary on the cases. Mr. Trump’s team argues that allowing the prosecution to proceed would be “a violation of his fundamental constitutional rights.” Riffing off the adage that grand juries are generally so pliant as to indict a “ham sandwich,” they write, “It is one thing to indict a ham sandwich. To indict the mustard-stained napkin that it once sat on is quite another.” Ms. Willis, the top prosecutor at Fulton County, which includes downtown Atlanta, disclosed that she would make a charging decision before September. Judge McBurney’s ruling could set that in motion after an investigation that has stretched for two-and-a-half years. Barricades have been set up outside an Atlanta courthouse, apparently in anticipation of an announcement. Ms. Willis’s indications of readiness come as Special Counsel Jack Smith appears set to indict Mr. Trump for related crimes relating to the 2020 presidential election. It has been more than a week since Mr. Trump reported that he received a “target letter” from Mr. Smith’s office, which is typically prelude to an indictment. The special counsel’s probe overlaps with Ms. Willis’s — both have spoken to Mayor Giuliani, the Georgia secretary of state, Bradford Raffensperger, and a raft of alternative electors who pledged the Peachtree State’s votes to Mr. Trump rather than President Biden, who won the state by just more than 11,000 votes. Both prosecutors have spoken to Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, who opposed Mr. Trump’s efforts even as he has criticized Ms. Willis’s investigation. While Mr. Smith is also running the prosecution that centers on the trove of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago — on that head, he of late added new charges and a new defendant — Ms. Willis is solely focused on the commission of state crimes, which would be immune from a presidential pardon in the event Mr. Trump wins back the presidency.

Judge Calls Trump ‘Rumpelstiltskin,’ Clears Way for Georgia Indictment as Prosecutor Says She’s ‘Ready to Go’

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