WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s legal advisers urged him to cancel the news conference he plans to hold on Monday, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Trump used social media to announce his news conference after a grand jury in Georgia indicted him and 18 co-defendants including Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York.
In response to his fourth indictment, Trump promised to present a “Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable REPORT on the Presidential Election Fraud which took place in Georgia.”
On Thursday, Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat’s office announced that investigators are working to trace the origin of threats against grand jury members after their identities were leaked online.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis wrote in a proposed scheduling order filed on Wednesday that she wants Trump’s trial for his push to overturn the election to start on March 4.
Willis is using Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law or RICO, and a recording of Trump asking Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, to “find” votes.
After learning about Trump’s plan to hold a news conference, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, responded on social media.
“The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen,” Kemp wrote. “For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward — under oath — and prove anything in a court of law.”
As of Thursday evening, Trump had three other pending criminal cases against him and it appeared his trials were set to start in January, March, and May.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is preparing to start Trump’s hush-money trial on March 25. Trump pleaded not guilty in April to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Special counsel Jack Smith announced an indictment against Trump on June 9 charging him with 40 felonies in federal court in Florida for mishandling classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon set a May 20 trial date.
Smith announced a grand jury indictment against Trump on Aug. 1, and filed charges in federal court in Washington, D.C., accusing him of election subversion in 2020. Smith was seeking a Jan. 2 trial date.
The U.S. Department of Justice asked a judge for a protective order to prevent Trump from disclosing evidence in federal cases.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has referred to the four indictments as a conspiracy against him to stop him from seeking reelection in 2024.
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