Fulton County Clerk Responds to Fallout from Release of ‘Fictitious’ Draft Trump Charges

Hours before a Fulton County grand jury handed down former President Donald Trump's fourth indictment, a docket entry that briefly appeared on the court's system seemed to lay out draft charges against him. The Clerk’s Office quickly disavowed the “fictitious” document.

In the aftermath of the blunder — cited by Trump and his allies as evidence of a preordained outcome — the clerk's office provided a fuller explanation on Tuesday about how “sample working document” went public in a "mishap." 

In a statement issued Tuesday, the office said Ché Alexander, the clerk of superior and magistrate courts, “used charges that pre-exist in Odyssey to test the system and conduct a trial run” in anticipation of “issues that arise with entering a potentially large indictment.” Odyssey is a system relied upon by multiple state court systems for filing and disseminating records.

“Unfortunately, the sample working document led to the docketing of what appeared to be an indictment, but which was, in fact, only a fictitious docket sheet,” the clerk's statement read. 

The office said it understands the confusion caused by the incident, adding that “media members can expect to be notified of any/all filings in real-time and will be provided access to filings via equitable communication.” 

The document, which appeared on the docket Monday afternoon, appeared to list as many as 39 charges against former President Donald Trump as well as the case number and a judge. It was first obtained by Reuters.

The document was then removed from the website, with Alexander releasing a statement calling it “fictitious.” 

Just hours after the incident, Trump, along with 18 other associates, were indicted in a 98-page indictment in District Attorney Fani Willis’ wide-ranging probe investigating efforts to overturn the state’s election results in 2020. The actual indictment had 41 counts, only 13 of which were leveled against Trump.