Regarding the election investigation, and that i would do that before September 1st of 2023. And im going to hold true to that commitment. Working for 2 1 2 years, were ready to go. That was Fulton County d. A. Fani willis last month, and tonight, there are indications that the fourth indictment of donald trump may be imminent. This time for Election Interference in georgia. Also tonight, judge Tanya Chutkan warned trump against making inflammatory statements, which he proceeded to ignore, so what if anything is going to be done about it . And despite all of that, trump still appears to be the Republican Partys inevitable nominee. His dominance over the rest of the republican field was on full displace this weekend in iowa. We begin tonight with Fulton County, georgia, where donald trump could face a fourth indictment, thats four, possibly any moment now. Im Jason Johnson in for joy reid. Fulton County District attorney fani willis appears poised to issue a Charging Decision on Donald Trumps alleged efforts to subvert election results. At this hour, a grand jury in atlanta is still Hearing Evidence, and the presiding judges courtroom remains open. Its a sign that the grand jury meeting today is trying to power through the remaining testimony ahead of a vote and potential hand out of indictments tonight. Many signs pointed to willis moving faster than initially expected. Key witnesses in the probe were spotted at the Fulton County courthouse, including two former Democratic State legislatures as well as journalist george chidi who was subpoenaed for witnessing a meeting at the Georgia State capitol where Trump Supporters signed documents falsely claiming trump won the election. Chidi told nbc news he was called to appear before the grand jury today after previously told he didnt have to show up until tomorrow. He also posted on social media, quote, change of plans. Going to court today. Theyre moving faster than they thought. Same goes for former Lieutenant Governor geoff duncan who according to the Atlanta Journal constitution also met with grand jurors today. Ahead of schedule. Which of course, brings us to the trump of it all, trump is doing what he always does, lashing out at his perceived enemies by putting out all cap screeds. That includes a tirade against geoff duncan who is trump critic and trying to intimidate him by saying the former Lieutenant Governor of georgia shouldnt testify. Today, trump attacked d. A. Willis, also went after Tanya Chutkan, the judge in the january 6th case, calling her highly partisan and very biased and unfair. Look, just days ago, judge chutkan warned trump about making inflammatory statements that can intimidate witnesses in that trial. Its a Warning Trump ignored, shocker, because intimidating judges and witnesses is, you know, the kind of thing that will put you and i in jail, is something hes been doing for years. He started back in 2016 when he attacked judge curiel, an indiana native, saying he couldnt act as an impartial judge of trump because he was a mexican american. Then he attacked alvin bragg, the first prosecutor to bring charges against a current or former president. Lets begin with Blayne Alexander who is outside the courthouse in atlanta. Thanks for joining us tonight on the reidout. What is the mood down there, and what is sort of the timeline were seeing . Last we checked in, theyre at maybe the seventh Witness Testimony and there may be up to ten. Reporter yeah, well, jason, the mood is anxiously waiting. Anxiously waiting and its hot outside. Watching to see what happens. But the timeline to get to the heart of your question really is that we are just kind of waiting to see what happens. I just spoke to a source who has direct knowledge of these proceedings and i understand from this source that they are currently hearing from witness number seven. That witness number six wrapped up, and that witness number seven is now on the stand, has been on the stand since around 6 30 or so. I also have guidance from the source that the d. A. s office is very much trying to wrap up these proceedings this evening. Wrap up tonight, but of course, all of that timing remains fluid. So as we continue to watch and wait and see, there are a couple things were looking at. We know that the courthouse is still open. Were still able to come and go from the courthouse. Thats notable. Typically here in Fulton County, the courthouse closes at 5 00 on the dot. But the fact its still open, Security Guards tell our team as long as the grand jury is in session, the doors will remain unlocked. So certainly, that is a very strong indication, again, that theyre trying to muscle through this, get what they need to get through, and likely to get to some sort of resolution tonight. This is a big question i have because its been pervading the air throughout this entire process, certainly in the state of georgia. What is the security like on the ground . Are there guards anywhere . Has brian kemp called in the National Guard . If an indictment comes down tonight, are there real concerns and is there sort of heightened security in the area . Security around the courthouse is very tight. I think thats one of the things fani willis tried to put into place months ago. Hey, these are the dates where the indictment is likely going to be handed up. Make sure you have your security in order. We have seen this over the past few weeks, over the time bracket she set out. Security right now is heavier than i have probably ever seen, and i have reported in front of this courthouse for the better part of two years. So the fact that boat sides of the main street that runs in front of the courthouse is blocked off, the fact that there are barricades down the front of the courthouse, and all around the courthouse, no parking around the courthouse. Typically, we see vehicles able to park. Theyre also making provisions by the Georgia State capitol. When we spoke to the sheriff, he made it clear, there are threats. There are threats that come to fani willis. Shes not shied away from talking about that. There arethets that come to the sheriff himself, and they chase each one down. In addition to the security that we do see, theres a lot of security we dont see. We know there are plain clothes officers that are mixed among us here in this kind of judicial complex in downtown atlanta. We know they are of course checking on threats and fani willis has increased security as well, jason. Thank you, Blayne Alexander. Thank you so much for setting the scene and setting us up for tonight. Lets bring in greg bluesteen, and joyce vance, msnbc legal analyst, former u. S. Attorney, and professor at the University Of Alabama law, and gwen fleming, former District Attorney of dekalb county, georgia. Greg, ill start with you. This is major. Ewoo were just talking to Blayne Alexander about security on the ground. What is sort of the political mood right now in Metro Atlanta . You know, are there sort of talking points that the local Republican Party has been handing out to State Legislators and members . Are police sort of more concerned . What is the sort of feeling on the ground in the city . Jason, its really tense. I would say republicans want to talk about anything but this. Youre not hearing governor brian kemp, not hearing other republican State Officials talk about these potential indictments because they would rather talk about anything but this. They would rather talk about how this is in their view a politicized prosecution and really steer clear from it. A lot of these Senior Republicans here in georgia are no fans of donald trump. The governor brian kemp, geoff duncan, Secretary Of StateBrad Raffensperger are targets of his bullying campaign, his Pressure Campaign to overturn the Georgia Election in 2020. Joyce, this is the case that i think is the most practical and probably one of the easiest for people to understand. Just sort of give our audience a breakdown here. What are we looking at with this sort of Georgia Prosecution . What are the witnesses doing now, where is this in the process . This is just they finish with the witnesses, everybody takes a quick break, and then they vote . Is it they could send the grand jury home to sleep it off tonight and then vote tomorrow . Where are we sort of it in the process . You know, jason, a lot of it is in the hands of the grand jurors because even after the presentation of evidence by the d. A. Is complete, it will be up to them to vote. They will be able to take time to talk things over if they decide they need to do that. They can ask the d. A. For more evidence or for more information about some of the charges if they feel like they dont have enough. The standard of proof is very low for an indictment. Its probable cause. Thats much lower than proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the standard for conviction at trial. It means theres a reason to believe a crime was committed and the people charged with it were in fact the people who committed. Its not the all encompassing decision we ask trial juries to make. Many times a grand jury will vote fairly quickly after they hear the evidence, but there are no guaranteed in that regard, and this grand jury might decide for any number of reasons ranging from the mundane like someone needs to go home and tend to a child or fix a meal, to something complicated, like they do want more time before they vote on this most serious of indictments. Gwen, you are a former prosecutor down there, you know the sort of legal system in georgia better than most. When you look at a case like this, and you look at what fani willis has been doing, can know this may sound simplistic, but how big a squad are we talking about . Is this fani willis with just a Couple Assistants or sort of the entire legal apparatus of the state and the county involved in this . Because as she mentioned, this has been a 2year process. Thats a lot of resources for a state to be involved in for something that the entire sort of national zeitgeist rests upon. How wig is the group of people working on this case that may finally get an indictment tonight . Well, i actually think its relatively small, even though the Fulton CountyDistrict Attorneys office is the largest Prosecutors Office in the state. At least it was when i was the elected d. A. In neighboring dekalb county. But i think out of protection for her staff, out of the desire to protect the integrity of the case, its a small group. We know that john floyd, one of the renowned rico experts on as it relates to georgia law as part of her team, she also has a gentleman, mike carlson, who with his father wrote the book on georgia evidence. So i think shes been very deliberate about who she is selecting to be a part of this effort. And it demonstrates to me that shes got a team that really is comprised of the best prosecutors within the state, evaluating these facts and the law. Lets talk a little bit about rico charges in the state of georgia. Racketeering, influence, and corruption organizations act, it was founded in 1970, but apparently, georgias rico laws are a bit broader than usual. Take us through what rico is like in this particular state and how it may differ as far as the kinds of charges trump could be indicted on. Ill let joyce speak to the federal rico statute, but the Georgia Statute is one of the broadest in the country. In that it lists about 43 different Predicate Crimes or the types of acts that would make up this pattern of Racketeering Activity that would be vioilative of the statute. For this case, it includes things like false statements, influencing witnesses, possibly computer trespass, so again, we wont know for sure or how broad the rico indictment might be unless and until we actually see the physical indictment document itself. But one thing to recognize is georgias rico statute does not include crimes under the election code, title 21. So things like conspiracy to commit Election Fraud or solicitation or violation of an oath of office or interference with elections. Those and other crimes that are not listed in the rico statute could be included separately in an indictment. I think its also important to note that forgery is one of the Predicate Acts under rico, and so potentially if d. A. Fani willis is looking to include the fake electors scheme, that could also be brought under the rico umbrella. Yes, im looking here, forgery, false statements, computer trespassing, im not sure what that means unless you go into best buy and take something. Joyce, if you could, just for specificitys sake, what is the difference, how is the federal rico statute a bit more strict . What are some things that wouldnt be included in a federal rico statute so we can understand sort of the wider range thats happening here in georgia potentially . Sure, so gwen is nice to defer to me on this one. We actually worked together for almost the entire eight years of the obama administration. And she knows as well as i do in this regard that georgias law is actually more prosecutor friendly than the federal law would be. The main reason that thats the case is because under federal law, you have to prove up something called an enterprise, and that can be complicated because rico is designed in essence to let prosecutors prosecute, Hold Accountable A Group of people that are engaging in crime together on an ongoing basis. That may be a problem here in the Georgia Statute because in essence its likely that fani willis will argue that trump and some of his confederates amounted to a criminal enterprise, but as gwen makes clear, there are more whats called Predicate Acts, those crimes, that conduct that theyre engaing together. Georgia law is more expansive. For instance, forgeries that were used on some of the fake electors or to your point, computer trespass, which means unlawful access to a computer and could easily encompass the conduct we heard about in Coffee County where Sensitive Software was accessed. Lots of different possibilities for how to bring all of this conduct together. And fani willis has gone on record, shes no stranger to using this statute. Shes used it aggressively, and she says she likes it because it allows her to give the jury the entire picture of the groups conduct. Thats really what rico is about, instead of limiting and cabining the evidence that the government can put on in front of a jury, say to just very strictly this is the call that the former president had with Brad Raffensperger, where he asked for votes, this permits prosecutors to more expansively say this is the full range of conduct, and this is why this group amounted to a rico enterprise. So greg, theres a couple characters, sort of witnesses and people involved in what happened in 2020 with trump attempted to influence the election that i want to pay a little attention to. You have obviously Brad Raffensperger who was the Secretary Of State, who got the phone call, hey, i need you to help me find 1100 votes. You also have former Lieutenant Governor geoff duncan. Hes very interesting because not only is he sort of involved in the case, but hes also someone it appears as those this investigation may have derailed his political career. He decided i dont want to run for reelection. How have people who were sort of involved in this who were elected officials, how has this affected them on the ground . Are there other people should this indictment come down, theyll be stepping away from or leaning into state politics . What might the results be at the State Capitol level there in atlanta . Yeah, jason, im glad you brought up the former Lieutenant Governor because he just left the courthouse behind me after testimony before the grand jury. He wouldnt say exactly what he told the grand jurors but he did say the nation is at a pivot point, a turning point, and he said republicans should move on from donald trump. This is something we in georgia have heard for the last two plus years. Hes a conservative republican, he was an ally of donald trump. Around the twelt election, he had a very visible break with the thenpresident , and he started talking about moving forward, having republicans move beyond Donald Trumps rhetoric and his obsession with the 2020 election. In his view, republicans should move forward and think about the issues, the economy, public safety, other issue