Trump accused of ‘witness tampering in real time’ in Georgia election case ahead of expected indictment

Donald Trump has been accused of witness tampering in the Georgia election case where an indictment against the former president is expected this week.

“I am reading reports that failed former Lt Governor of Georgia, Jeff Duncan, will be testifying before the Fulton County Grand Jury. He shouldn’t,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday, before doubling down on his baseless claims about election fraud. “I barely know him but he was, right from the beginning of this Witch Hunt, a nasty disaster for those looking into the Election Fraud that took place in Georgia.”

Mr Trump was referring to Geoff Duncan, who served as the second in command to Governor Brian Kemp when Mr Trump was attempting to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.

“He refused having a Special Session to find out what went on, became very unpopular with Republicans (I refused to endorse him!), and fought the TRUTH all the way. A loser, he went to FNCNN!” Mr Trump added, seemingly in reference to the news networks Fox News and CNN.

Mr Duncan appeared on CNN on Monday saying, “I’m going to refrain from any comment with the exception of saying, which was just pointed out, he did misspell my name”.

On Monday, the court website for Fulton County, Georgia posted a document seeming to outline several charges against Mr Trump before it was taken down, according to Reuters.

The document was removed without explanation, the news agency stated.

A spokesperson for the District Attorney’s office told Reuters that the news agency’s report “that those charges were filed is inaccurate. Beyond that we cannot comment”.

Later on Monday, the Office of the Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts issued a statement saying that a “fictitious” document has been shared online after Donald Trump claimed that charges had been filed against him ahead of a grand jury vote.

“While there have been no documents filed today regarding such, all members of the media should be reminded that documents that do not bear an official case number, filing date, and the name of The Clerk of Courts, in concert, are not considered official filings and should not be treated as such,” the court said.

They added that “Media members can expect to be notified of any/all filings in real-time and will be provided access to filings via equitable communication”.

District Attorney Fani Willis has been investigating Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state and was expected to seek an indictment from a grand jury this week. It would be Mr Trump’s fourth indictment within the span of five months.

Former US Attorney Barb McQuade wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that Mr Trump was “witness tampering in real time,” with his statement on Truth Social.

MSNBC host Katie Phang added: “This is going to go so very badly for Trump…”

Marcus Flowers, a Georgia Democrat, wrote: “He’s trying it! I don’t think it’s going to work well in Atlanta. It ain’t a small town!”

Democratic political commentator Bakari Sellers said people “get their bonds denied and revoked for this type of behaviour”.

Mr Trump also went on several additional rants against the Georgia grand jury and Ms Willis on Monday as an indictment appeared to be imminent.

In one outburst on Monday morning, Mr Trump wrote: “WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE TELL THE FULTON COUNTY GRAND JURY THAT I DID NOT TAMPER WITH THE ELECTION.

“THE PEOPLE THAT TAMPERED WITH IT WERE THE ONES THAT RIGGED IT, AND SADLY, PHONEY FANI WILLIS, WHO HAS SHOCKINGLY ALLOWED ATLANTA TO BECOME ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS CITIES ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, HAS NO INTEREST IN SEEING THE MASSIVE AMOUNT OF EVIDENCE AVAILABLE, OR FINDING OUT WHO THESE PEOPLE THAT COMMITTED THIS CRIME ARE.

“SHE ONLY WANTS TO ‘GET TRUMP.’ I WOULD BE HAPPY TO SHOW THIS INFO TO THE G.J.”

Story updated to include statement from Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts