Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Monday issued a letter that was certainly unusual. It was couched as a notice to her colleagues in local law enforcement to be prepared for safety issues that could arise from charging decisions she said would come this summer in her 2020 election interference probe.
What are we to make of this letter?
Well, for starters, Willis is highly unlikely to issue this letter if she’s not fully intending to charge Donald Trump, as opposed to not bringing charges against him or bringing charges only against lower-level figures. It is reminiscent of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s issuing a strong letter to GOP Rep. Jim Jordan before indicting Trump — one that was simply too muscular if you were not gearing up for an eventual indictment of the former president. Otherwise, why not write something shorter and sweeter that kicks the can down the road, if you are not anticipating a fight over an upcoming indictment?
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One thing Willis’ letter was not was what it professed to be: simply a call to law enforcement to be prepared for any violence. There would be no reason to issue a letter like this publicly. If you think of the way Bragg dealt with this same issue, he had discussions behind the scenes. Willis easily could have followed that path, and need not have issued a public letter, nor a letter so many months ahead of time.
Instead, the letter seemed geared to deal with expectations created by Willis herself when in January she told the judge overseeing the special grand jury convened to investigate the Georgia election that a decision on charges was “imminent.” She walked back that statement a few weeks later to say she used that word…
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