Trump, Judge Would Face New Legal Terrain With Georgia Bail Laws: Attorney

Georgia’s legal provisions on bail could pose a dilemma for the judge presiding over the criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the state’s election results in 2020.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been leading the probe into Trump and his allies, although it remains unclear if the former president will face any charges in the years-long investigation. A special grand jury heard hours of testimony on Monday in connection to the case, and an estimated 20 people are known to have been told that they could face related charges.

As anticipation mounts for what could be Trump’s fourth criminal indictment—and his second in connection to the 2020 presidential election—attorney and former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann spoke with MSNBC about how the Georgia case could compare to the former president’s other pending trials.

Former President Donald Trump is pictured on Thursday in Bedminster, New Jersey. Georgia’s bail provisions could pose a dilemma for the judge—and the former president— in a potential criminal trial over the 2020 election probe, former prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said. Mike Stobe/Getty

“We’ve seen the former president get bail in Manhattan, in Florida, and in D.C.,” Weismann said to MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace. “We have also seen the former president continue to make statements that, at least arguably, are obstruction of justice and intimidating witnesses.

“Why is that important? Because in Georgia, the statute that may apply here, depending on what is charged … is one that the defendant has the burden of rebutting,” he continued.

Weismann explained that due to Georgia’s law on criminal bail, Trump would have to prove that he poses no flight risk, risk of witness intimidation, or risk of committing another crime before he is released on bail. The statute specifically states that the defendant can only be released on bail if they pose “no significant risk of intimidating witnesses or otherwise obstructing the administration of justice.”

Trump’s behavior on social media has already posed a potential legal problem for the judge presiding over his federal January 6 case, who has repeatedly warned the former president against any form of tampering with or intimidating witnesses and other individuals related to the investigation. Despite the injunction, Trump made a series of posts attacking U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Sunday.

The former president also reacted over Truth Social on Monday after a purported leaked document of charges stemming from the Georgia investigation were published to, and quickly deleted from, the Fulton County court website. The Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts said the filing was “a fictitious document” and that no charges have been filed yet.

In another post Monday morning, Trump specifically called out former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, an anti-Trump Republican who was subpoenaed to testify before the Georgia grand jury later that afternoon.

“For a judge who is going to treat Donald Trump or anyone else like any other defendant, that could be a problem, because just today we saw a continuation of the attacks on the [Washington] D.C., federal judge and even a Truth Social saying that Geoff Duncan … should not comply with the grand jury subpoena in Georgia,” Weismann told Wallace.

“You can’t tell a witness not to comply with a grand jury subpoena unless there’s some legal ability to do that,” he added. “That’s not what the former president did. So, it’ll be interesting to see how the judge deals with bail as we go forward.”

Newsweek reached out to Trump’s press team via email for comment on the Fulton County investigation.