THE TIGHTENING NOOSE:

Last month, Fani Willis, the newly elected district attorney in Fulton County -- home to Atlanta -- began a criminal investigation into the shakedown, including the infamous January 2 phone call. We expected that it would be a classic slow-motion strangulation -- the only proper way to take down a former president, especially one with a cult-like following. Things have moved along enough for Willis to empanel a grand jury as part of the investigation. Now, she has brought in one of the nation's leading racketeering experts to assist in the investigation.

According to Reuters:

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has enlisted the help of Atlanta lawyer John Floyd, who wrote a national guide on prosecuting state racketeering cases. Floyd was hired recently to "provide help as needed" on matters involving racketeering, including the Trump investigation and other cases, said the source, who has direct knowledge of the situation.

The move bolsters the team investigating Trump as Willis prepares to issue subpoenas for evidence on whether the former president and his allies broke the law in their campaign to pressure state officials to reverse his Georgia election loss. Willis has said that her office would examine potential charges including "solicitation of election fraud, the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies, conspiracy, racketeering" among other possible violations.

Floyd's book, RICO State by State: A Guide to Litigation Under the State Racketeering Statutes, outlines the complex legal requirements that prosecutors must meet in order to win a state racketeering case.

The significance? Georgia's version of RICO makes false statements to state officials a predicate act. 

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