Georgia prosecutor investigating Trump requests FBI protection after former president targets her at rally

Ms Willis is investigating former president Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure Georgia election officials into throwing out 2020 election results

(AP)

The Georgia prosecutor who will oversee a special grand jury probe into Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure state officials into throwing out 2020 election results asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation for security assistance after the former president called out her office’s efforts during one of his signature political rallies.

In a letter to the FBI special agent in charge of the bureau’s Atlanta field office, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said her office had already been receiving threats from Trump supporters who are displeased with the investigation. She added that those “security concerns” had “escalated” after Mr Trump’s Conroe, Texas rally, during which the twice-impeached one-term president attacked Ms Willis and two other prosecutors investigating him or his businesses, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Without mentioning the names of the three prosecutors — each of whom is Black — Mr Trump called them “vicious, horrible people” and called on his supporters, many of whom stormed the Capitol last January at his behest, to engage in widespread street protests if he is charged with any crime by any of them.

“They're racists and they're very sick – they're mentally sick," he said. "They're going after me without any protection of my rights from the Supreme Court or most other courts. In reality, they're not after me, they're after you”.

In her letter to the FBI — which was first reported by CNN — Ms Willis asked the FBI special agent in charge, JC Hacker, to “immediately conduct a risk assessment of the Fulton County Courthouse and Government Centre” and “provide protective resources to include intelligence and federal agents”.

"It is imperative that these resources are in place well in advance of the convening of the Special Purpose Grand Jury,” she added.

Ms Willis also compared the potential of violence against her office or the special grand jury she will present evidence to starting in May to the 6 January attack on the Capitol, which a mob of Mr Trump’s supporters perpetrated in response to his remarks at a rally earlier that day near the White House in hopes of stopping Congress from certifying his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

“We must work together to keep the public safe and ensure that we do not have a tragedy in Atlanta similar to what happened at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” she said.