2023-08-07 16:32:26
Law enforcement surrounded the Fulton County Courthouse Monday in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, amid closed roads and traffic barriers put in place to heighten security ahead of a possible layoff. indictment of former US President Donald Trump.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is completing his investigation into attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the politically competitive state of Georgia. If charged, it will be the fourth time since March that he has faced criminal charges.
The normally busy streets outside the gray stone courthouse were largely empty, devoid of the food trucks that usually serve breakfast and lunch to court workers, most of whom were invited by Mr. Willis to work remotely as the grand jury’s decision approaches.
The front of the courthouse was lined with rows of orange plastic, water-filled Jersey barriers and steel crowd control barricades. Dozens of county sheriff’s deputies were stationed outside the court, and other deputies and Atlanta police drove marked cars in a circle through nearby streets.
“Our goal is to ensure that all of the services we normally have are open and operational, while creating a safe environment for the people we serve,” Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat said during a press conference held last week as security measures were gradually put in place.
“It’s part of a protection plan,” he added.
Mr Trump, 77 and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, was charged for a third time last week.
He has pleaded not guilty to federal charges brought in Washington that he conspired to defraud the United States by preventing Congress from certifying Democratic President Joe Biden’s victory, thereby depriving American voters of their right to a fair election.
He lashed out at prosecutors who filed charges once morest him, accusing them of political bias.
“IF YOU ATTACK ME, I WILL ATTACK YOU!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site on Friday.
Mr Trump has until 5 p.m. Monday (2100 GMT) to respond to the US government’s proposed protective order to protect witnesses and evidence in the federal case.
Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying his defeat. Five people died during and in the followingmath of the violence and dozens were injured.
Samaya Lockridge, 23, a Democrat, who recently moved from Tampa to Atlanta, said she hopes Atlanta doesn’t replay the violence.
“I hope it doesn’t come to this, but who would have thought it might happen here?
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