Brad Raffensperger will be interviewed this week by federal prosecutors investigating efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election.
The Georgia secretary of state’s cooperation with the probe of U.S. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith was first reported by The Washington Post and confirmed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through a top Raffensperger aide. He will meet with prosecutors Wednesday in Atlanta.
The Post also reported that the federal probe is expanding and is also looking into various “alternate” elector plots around the nation that sought to swing the election to Trump in 2020. It’s unclear if Georgia’s slate of alternate electors — who signed documents saying Trump won in the state despite Democrat Joe Biden winning the vote tally — is among them.
Both Georgia’s fake electors and Raffensperger are key parts of a long-running Fulton County investigation into whether Trump an his supporters violated the law when they tried to meddle in the state’s 2020 election.
Raffensperger, who met with the Fulton special grand jury in June 2022, is expected to be a star witness in the local probe. The Secretary of State was on the receiving end of a January 2021 call from Trump demanding that he “find” exactly enough votes to overturn his defeat.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has indicated she will announce her decision on indictments in August. The timing of the federal investigation into election tampering is unclear.
Federal prosecutors have already charged Trump with 37 counts connected to his handling of classified documents. An indictment unsealed earlier this month alleges Trump took sensitive papers with him from the White House when he left the presidency and then obstructed efforts by authorities to reclaim them. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Staff Writer Greg Bluestein contributed to this report.
