Georgia court publishes then deletes list of criminal charges against Trump

A list of criminal charges in Georgia against former President Donald Trump briefly appeared on Monday on a Fulton County website but was then quickly deleted.

Prosecutors said Trump had not been indicted in a long-running investigation into the 2020 presidential election.

On Monday, a Fulton County grand jury began hearing from witnesses.

Shortly after 12pm, (5pm UK time) news agency Reuters reported on and published a list of several criminal charges that were seemingly going to be brought against Trump.

These included state racketeering counts, conspiracy to commit false statements, and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.

Quickly after, Reuters said the filing was taken down.

A spokesperson for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the investigation into Trump, said the report of charges being filed was “inaccurate” but declined to comment further.

Prosecutors were expected to present those charges to the grand jury on Monday but instead they were still hearing from witnesses.

Barriers and street closures around the court in Atlanta, as well as statements made by Ms Willis, had indicated that a presentation to a grand jury was likely to begin this week.

It was unclear why the charges were detailed in a filing while grand jurors were still hearing from witnesses.

For two and a half years, Ms Willis has been investigating actions taken by Trump and others in their efforts to overturn his narrow loss in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden during the 2020 US Presidential Election.

Trump famously called Georgia’s Republican secretary of state Brad Raffensperger on January 2, 2021 to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s win.

It was the release of a recording of that phone call that prompted Willis to open her investigation about a month later.

Former Democratic state Senator Jen Jordan, had been summoned to testify before the grand jury.

As she left the Fulton County courthouse late on Monday morning she said she had been questioned for about 40 minutes.

Former Democratic state Representative Bee Nguyen also confirmed that she testified.

“No individual is above the law, and I will continue to fully cooperate with any legal proceedings seeking the truth and protecting our democracy,” Nguyen said in a statement.

News outlets reported that Gabriel Sterling, a top official in the secretary of state’s office, was seen arriving at the courthouse earlier on Monday.

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