In what appears to be quite the mistake, officials in Fulton County, Georgia, posted — seemingly prematurely on Monday — a two-page docket report to their website regarding the Peach State case against former President Donald Trump before quickly removing the information from its website, according to Reuters.
An eagle-eyed Reuters journalist spotted this document -- which lists Trump as the defendant in multiple felony counts -- on the Fulton County, GA, court website.
— Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) August 14, 2023
Fortunately, the reporter downloaded it before it was removed. https://t.co/pmSTM0ehRK pic.twitter.com/1GaDr7QR3a
According to the document that was reportedly (and briefly) posted to the county's website, it appears Trump will face more than one dozen felony counts on the following charges that the docket lists with dates ranging from November 4, 2020 through September 17, 2021:
- Violation of the Georgia RICO Act — 11/04/2020
- Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer — 12/07/2020
- Conspiracy to Commit Impersonating a Public Officer — 12/06/2020
- Conspiracy to Commit Forgery in the First Degree — 12/06/2020
- Conspiracy to Commit False Statements and Writings — 12/06/2020
- Conspiracy to Commit Filing False Documents —12/06/2020
- Conspiracy to Commit False Statements and Writings — 12/06/2020
- Filing False Documents — 12/31/2020
- Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer — 01/02/2021
- False Statements and Writings — 01/02/2021
- Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer — 09/17/2021
- False Statements and Writings — 09/17/2021
More via Reuters:
The document was dated Aug. 14 and named Trump, citing the case as "open," but is no longer available on the court's website. Reuters was not immediately able to determine why the item was posted or removed. "The Reuters report that those charges were filed is inaccurate. Beyond that we cannot comment," a spokesperson for the District Attorney's office said.
If Trump is charged in Georgia, it would mark his fourth indictment in less than five months, and the second to arise from his efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden's in the 2020 presidential election.
The Fulton County clerk's office could not immediately be reached for comment on the docket report. Representatives for the county and Trump also could not be immediately reached for comment.
The two-page document cites the "Violation Of The Georgia Rico (Racketeer Influenced And Corrupt Organizations) Act," "Solicitation Of Violation Of Oath By Public Officer," "Conspiracy To Commit False Statements and Writings" and "Conspiracy To Commit Forgery in the First Degree," among other charges listed.
Following the apparent mistake that saw the document of charges against Trump made public, reports from Georgia said the grand jury's proceedings for the week were being accelerated, with some witnesses scheduled to testify on Tuesday being called before the panel on Monday.
While officials in Fulton County have been tight-lipped on the situation so far, Monday's events raised more questions about how the grand jury was considering charges against the 45th president — especially if charges were ready to go before the panel had finished hearing testimony from witnesses.
Trump primary opponent Vivek Ramaswamy chimed in on the matter Monday afternoon, calling the indictment "disastrous" and "downright pathetic."
Here we go again: another disastrous Trump indictment. It’s downright pathetic that Fulton County publicly posted the indictment on its website even before the grand jury had finished convening. Since the four prosecutions against Trump are using novel & untested legal theories,… pic.twitter.com/LOYkGcCgm5
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 14, 2023
UPDATE: On Monday evening, Fulton County officials released additional claims in a statement calling the document posted to its website "fictitious," raising even more questions about what is going on in Georgia.
This statement just further confuses what happened today. How did a “fictitious” document get posted on their website? Are they accusing Reuters of faking it? There’s no accountability here for a document that Trump allies are seizing on as proving the fix is in against him https://t.co/tBKbJBqqPp
— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) August 14, 2023
If the document is — as officials now say — phony, why did it take hours for such an explanation to be made after initially only saying the charges listed on the docket had not been filed? Indeed, there has not been an official announcement of a grand jury decision, but does that make a document appearing to show counts against Trump — even unannounced ones — "fictitious," as officials now say? And as NBC News' Garrett Haake questioned, is Fulton County accusing Reuters of faking the document? If there's a way to smoothly handle the indictment of a former president, this surely can't be it.
This is a developing story and may be updated.