cnn newsroom with max foster and bianca nobilo. it is wednesday, august 23, 9:00 a.m. in london, 4:00 a.m. in atlanta where we re following major developments in the 2020 georgia election interference case, the first four of donald trump s 18 heco-defendants have rned themselves in. and they are attorney john eastman, scottall who was alleinvolved in the breach of voting machines in rural coffey county, georgia. kathy lath, republican party chair in that county. and then former chair david schaffer who allegedly played a key role in organizing a slate of fake electors to support trump. john eastman spoke with reporters after his booking. i m here to surrender to an indictment that should never have been brought. it targets toirns s
results. ten ways to demonstrate that this election was stolen that the votes were phony. dead people, felons, phony ballot, phony mail-in ballots. reporter: and john eastman and kenneth cheesesebro outline plans to get it overturned. and jeff clark who drafted a letter that he opened doj would send to various state leaders including in georgia falsely proclaiming fraud in their states. regarding in voter fraud at state farm arena was deliberately planned. it had to be. reporter: a lawyer who worked with trump s team to promote voter fraud claims also charged along with ray smith. 2506 felons voted illegally in georgia. reporter: and sydney powell charged with her alleged involvement in the scheme to break into voting machines in coffey county, georgia.
if convicted of racketeering the defendants could face a 5 to 20 year sentence. rico charges has time that you have to serve. reporter: and it covers trump s infamous january 2021 call to georgia secretary of state raffensperger. i just want to find 11,780 votes. reporter: the harassment campaign by trump supporters against ruby freeman. i cannot say specifically what will take place. i just know reporter: as well as the trump campaign s fake electors plot and breach of a voting system in rural coffey county. trump posting that all charges should be dropped and there will be complete exoneration. as he clings to baseless claims of voter fraud and vows to hold a press conference about it monday. republican governor brian kemp
let s hear the whole truth and nothing but the truth, in donald trump s actions and the surrounding cast of characters around him. cnn s zachary cohen previews the week ahead. reporter: as we re preparing for fani willis to present to the grand jury. new pieces of evidence, that prosecutors got their hands on. text messages that show a link between lawyers working for then-president donald trump and a voting system breach in rural coffey county, georgia. these text messages show that lawyers actively sought to get a written letter of invitation, from a local election worker in coffey county. this shows they were involved in the planning. rudy giuliani and sidney powell, were instrumental and coordinated the breach. it remains to be seen how this relates to charging positions. this is a key part of her
sources telling cnn fulton county investigators now have emails and text messages that directly connect members of trump s legal team to the breach of a voting system in rural coffey county. this new development coming as district attorney fani willis prepares to present the case to a grand jury. she s expected to seek an indictment of more than a dozen people as early asuesday. and that means this week, a former u.s. president could be facing criminal charges in four u.s. jurisdictions. we are covering all the latest developments in this, from the legal and investigative angles to this week s grand jury proceedings. we begin with zachary cohen, who helped break this reporting. start with walking us through how significant this is, this evidence linking members of trump s legal team to the breach of a voting system. reporter: yeah, jessica. these text messages really add to a growing body of evidence that links directly trump s