Breakdown: The Trump Indictment

Breakdown is a true crime investigative podcast which leverages the deep expertise of journalists from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution to take listeners inside the courtroom to tell important stories about the criminal justice system. Since June 2022, the award-winning podcast has explored a story that speaks to heart of our democracy - the criminal investigation of Donald Trump and his allies for attempting to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia.

It began with a phone call. Fulton County District Fani Willis had been in office just a day when a recording emerged of Trump urging Georgia’s Secretary of State to “find” enough votes to reverse his election loss. That would set in motion a criminal probe that 2 ½ years later ushered in a sweeping indictment charging Trump and 18 supporters with being part of a criminal enterprise to overthrow the 2020 election.

No one was better positioned to cover this complex, fast moving and politically charged story than The AJC and the Breakdown podcast. In 2023, Breakdown has emerged as the authoritative source on the case, listened to by lawyers, journalists and even the judge overseeing the trial The podcast has consistently broken important news and provided context to explain not just what happened but what it means. Leveraging sources developed over decades, legal affairs reporter Bill Rankin has landed revelatory interviews that no one else could. Senior reporter Tamar Hallerman brought political expertise honed during years reporting for The AJC in Washinton D.C. Together, they haves scored significant scoops that have set the news agenda.

Perhaps most importantly, in a media landscape full of opinion journalism, Breakdown is a fact-based podcast that aims to provide listeners with an understanding of complicated developments that will have repercussions on out legal and electoral landscape for years to come.

We call your attention to these episodes, including some in Season 9, released during the contest period. The entire body of work for all seasons of Breakdown can be found at any of the major podcast distributers or at ajc.com/breakdown.

Season 9: The Trump Grand Jury

March 1, 2023: Episode 26 - The Forewoman Emerges: For eight months, 23 Fulton County citizens served on a special purpose grand jury which met behind closed doors to consider whether Donald Trump and his allies broke the law by trying to overthrow the 2020 election in Georgia. After they finished, their findings remained largely shrouded in secrecy - that is until the forewoman of the panel broke her silence. In an in-depth interview, Emily Kohrs reveals details about the grand jury’s work and drops clues about what to expect in the Trump case.

March 20, 2023: Episode 27 - Inside the Trump Grand Jury: An exclusive interview with five additional special grand jurors who investigated Donald Trump in Fulton County’s election interference probe. The jurors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, take us behind the scenes, describing the panel’s inner workings.

Season 10: The Trump Indictment

Aug. 9, 2023: Episode 1 - How We Got Here: The tenth season of “Breakdown” begins by looking at the evidence accumulated against Donald Trump and his allies in the Georgia election interference investigation.

Aug. 15, 2023: Episode 2 - The Enterprise: Following a drama-filled day at the Fulton County courthouse, District Attorney Fani Willis unveils a 41-count racketeering indictment against Donald Trump and 18 of his supporters. It’s a sweeping case involving key members of the former president’s inner circle and bit players who prosecutors say played a role in trying to subvert Georgia’s 2020 election. Just hours after seeing the charges, we analyze what happened and what it all means.

Aug. 23, 2023: Episode 4 - Show Time at Rice Street: A little more than a week after the Trump indictment is handed up, some of the defendants begin to surrender at Fulton County’s notorious jail. Legal filings are flying, with some defendants moving quickly to try to move their cases to federal court. We speak to two veteran former prosecutors to help make sense of the indictment and the

Aug. 25, 2023: Episode 5 - Trump Surrenders: Donald Trump makes history as he is booked at the Fulton County Jail. Outside the lock up, a carnival-like scene greets the former president who is fingerprinted and has a mug shot taken.