Georgia court clerk dubs mystery document in Trump case ‘fictitious’

The Fulton County, Ga., court clerk’s office addressed Monday what it called a “fictitious” document that Reuters reported had been briefly posted on the court’s website indicating charges against former President Trump for his attempts at overturning his 2020 election loss in the state.

But the clerk’s office failed to provide any information on how the document in the high-profile case ended up on its court website, which Reuters reported had been taken down “without explanation.”

The document appears to outline multiple criminal charges against Trump in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s (D) probe of the former president’s efforts to subvert the state’s 2020 election results to stay in power.

In a statement, the court said it is aware of a “fictitious document that has been circulated online and reported by various media outlets related the The Fulton County Special Purpose Grand Jury.” The statement never addresses Trump specifically, but a special purpose grand jury was put in place to investigate the case expected to be brought by Willis.

“As the custodian of various county records, the Clerk of the Courts understands the sensitivity of all court filings, especially those that are at the forefront of the national spotlight and remains committed to operating with an extreme level of efficiency, accuracy and transparency,” according to the court statement.

The Hill has requested comment from the court clerk’s office. NBC and Reuters have reported on the statement.

Reuters issued a clarification to its report that indicated Trump had been indicted in Georgia in connection with his efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.

The report was widely circulated on social media and prompted the court to issue a statement shooting it down.

In a clarification posted online shortly after, Reuters said the court’s website briefly posted a document Monday listing several criminal charges against Trump, “before taking the document down without explanation.”

The document was dated Aug. 14, the wire and news service said, noting the document named Trump and cited the case as “open.”

“Reuters was not immediately able to determine why the item was posted or removed,” the outlet wrote on its website.

As of Monday evening, members of the grand jury overseeing the case were still hearing evidence and had not voted on whether to indict the former president.

Trump’s attorneys Drew Findling and Jennifer Little, meanwhile, pounced on brief release of the document, suggesting in a statement that the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office has “no respect for the integrity of the grand jury process.”

“This was not a simple administrative mistake,” they said. “A proposed indictment should only be in the hands of the District Attorney’s Office, yet it somehow made its way to the clerk’s office and was assigned a case number and a judge before the grand jury even deliberated. This is emblematic of the pervasive and glaring constitutional violations which have plagued this case from its very inception.”

An indictment in Georgia would be Trump’s fourth criminal indictment this year.