Many people fall ill after ‘unknown substance’ sent to office of Georgia prosecutor investigating Trump, Fani Willis

After a package or letter with white powder was delivered to the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, at least four Fulton County Courthouse employees were treated for an unknown illness.

Four people who complained of headaches were taken to a hospital as a precaution, and the third floor of the courthouse complex was evacuated following the discovery of the package containing the mysterious substance on Friday.

Atlanta Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Ronald Slatton reported that firefighters determined the powder to be a starch or salt and not harmful, 30 minutes after the hazardous materials response began. The courthouse was promptly reopened once the situation was deemed safe.

The substance has since been deemed safe but the courthouse’s third floor was temporarily placed on lockdown after the letter and substance were found, with a hazmat team arriving on the scene.

However, that lockdown was lifted around 3:30pm in the courthouse where Attorney General Fani Willis works. Officials said the letter was opened around 2pm, and Atlanta Fire was immediately alerted. 

Slatton said he didn’t know who the letter was addressed to, only that it arrived at the district attorney’s office. When asked about a motive, he replied, ‘That´s for the law enforcement.’ 

It’s not clear if anyone is investigating the incident as a potential crime. Officer Aaron Fix, a spokesperson for the Atlanta Police Department, referred comment back to Atlanta Fire Rescue. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees courthouse security, isn’t investigating, said spokesperson Natalie Ammons. 

‘The District Attorney and her staff greatly appreciate the quick and effective response by Atlanta and Fulton County agencies to the scene to protect our colleagues and the public,’ a DA´s office spokesperson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The courthouse’s third floor was temporarily placed on lockdown after the letter and substance were found, with a hazmat team arriving on the scene. However, that lockdown was lifted around 3:30pm

At least four Fulton County Courthouse employees have come down with something after intercepting a suspicious package with a white substance inside. It is unclear what symptoms the employees experienced. The four were taken to the hospital as a precaution

A package or letter with white powder was delivered to the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis

An elected Democrat, Willis won indictments against now-President Donald Trump and 18 others in August 2023, using Georgia’s anti-racketeering law to accuse them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn Trump’s narrow 2020 presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia. 

Four people later pleaded guilty, but a state appeals court in December removed Willis from the case, citing an ‘appearance of impropriety’ related to a romantic relationship Willis had with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she had hired to lead the case. 

Ruling in a 2-1 opinion, the Georgia appeals court said she was ‘wholly disqualified from this case,’ and pointed to ‘a significant appearance of impropriety.’

The ruling overturns Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s decision that allowed Willis and her team to remain on the Trump case despite the affair as long as Wade left his job as Willis’ lead prosecutor.

In his ruling McAfee did point to an ‘odor of mendacity’ around the case in light of the stunning revelations.

Willis is asking the Georgia Supreme Court to reverse her disqualification.

Officials said the letter was opened around 2pm, and Atlanta Fire was immediately alerted

In December, DA Willis was disqualified from the Donald Trump election interference prosecution, striking a potentially lethal blow to the case

The charges brought Trump’s infamous mugshot. In January, an appeals court upheld the dismissal of some of the charges against Trump in Georgia’s election interference case

The latest ruling did not toss out the case itself, although the decision raises barriers that legal experts immediately called potentially terminal.

Another team of prosecutors would have to come in from another county to bring the case, at a time when the other criminal cases against Trump have collapsed after his election to the presidency.

In January, an appeals court upheld the dismissal of some of the charges against Trump in Georgia’s election interference case.