Well, it's another day and we're getting yet another explanation from Fulton Country officials when it comes to the posted-then-deleted document that appeared to be the indictment against former President Donald Trump — and it might be the wildest one yet.
As Townhall reported previously, a document that showed a number of charges under Trump's name appeared on the Fulton County clerk's website on Monday around noon, but was quickly removed. Later that night, when the grand jury voted on the indictment, it turned out that Trump was charged with exactly the same counts as had appeared on the clerk's website hours before the grand jury had completed its work. County officials called the deleted document "fictitious" initially on Monday, then changed tact on Tuesday to say it was the result of a "trial run" used to "test" the system of posting indictments in anticipation of the grand jury's vote.
At no time, however, amid the changing stories, have Fulton County officials explained why the document posted initially was an exact match for the charges the grand jury actually handed up hours later.
On Wednesday, we got another story — this time directly from Fulton County Clerk Ché Alexander — that added more information but did little to clear up the situation.
Here's what she had to say when she broke her silence in an interview with Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV:
She says she was under a lot of pressure to make sure the process went smoothly. In trying to be perfect she says she made a mistake.
She says she hit send instead of hitting save. “I am human,” she said. And she says she wanted to get the documents to the public as soon as possible.
“And that’s how the mishap happened.”
Alexander said this had nothing to do with the D.A.’s office and there was nothing sinister about the mistake she made.
“I have no dog in the fight,” she pointed out.
She says in an effort to handle the indictment perfectly she messed up. “I did a work sample in the system. And when I hit save, it went to the press queue.”
Some news reporters saw it before it was deleted. At least one outlet published it.
Alexander says what was published was unofficial. “It wasn’t an official document. It wasn’t official charges. It was the dry run. It was a work sample,” she said.
Even though it had a case number. But Alexander says it didn’t have a stamp or other markings that would have made it official.
Jones asked her why did she release a statement calling the document “fictitious.”
“That was the best word that I could come up with. It was fictitious. It wasn’t real. It didn’t have a stamp on it,” she stated.
Jones asked her why she didn’t just say it was an error. Alexander says the word ‘fictitious’ is what her team came up with...
Alexander says she was under a lot of worldwide pressure to get this right. Now she says she just wants to explain what happened and get back to work. “I tell my staff we just want to be transparent. I don’t have anything to hide,” Alexander said.
Alexander says her mistake had no impact on the grand jury and its decision.
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Yep, the latest version of events is that the clerk "hit send instead of save." Notably, there's still no explanation for how the test run which went awry happened to include the exact counts on which Trump was later indicted by the grand jury, but with any luck there will be yet another explanation or statement from the clerk's office yet to be released in the days ahead.
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