How did a Trump charge sheet get published hours before grand jury vote?

It was the URL heard around the world.

On Monday, a document seemingly announcing 13 counts against Donald Trump was briefly published online on a Fulton County web system – before being deleted just as quickly – kicking off rampant speculation about the looming indictment and instantly fuelling claims of foul play from the former president.

The initial charge sheet seemed to show an extensive list of criminal charges against Mr Trump stemming from the long-running Georgia investigation into his attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, according to Reuters, which first reported the document.

It was published hours before the grand jury eventually voted to indict the former president and a group of his closest allies for running a criminal enterprise to overturn the 2020 election in the state and keep Mr Trump in power.

The document, which can still be viewed on the Reuters website, was quickly taken down.

Hours later, when the indictment was handed down, it appeared under a different case code.

It also included Mr Trump’s 18 co-defendants – something the original document did not.

But there were some similarities between the initial posting and the final charge sheet, with both including the exact same 13 charges against the former president.

In a statement to The Independent on Tuesday, the Fulton County clerk’s office explained in greater detail what prompted the confusion.

It said Ché Alexander, Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts, used an online document system to conduct a “trial run” of posting a large indictment to test for potential issues.

“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,” they explained. “Because the media has access to documents before they are published, and while it may have appeared that something official had occurred because the document bore a case number and filing date, it did not include a signed ‘true’ or ‘no’ bill nor an official stamp with Clerk Alexander’s name, thereby making the document unofficial and a test sample only.”

The office, once it was aware of the mixup, said it “immediately removed the document and issued correspondence notifying the media that a fictitious document was in circulation and that no indictment had been returned by the Grand Jury,” the statement added.

However, this explanation was only available after the fact. Throughout Monday, little was known about what prompted the initial document to appear then disappear. Officials only said it was “fictitious.”

The lack of information was quickly exploited by Mr Trump.

In an email to his supporters asking for donations to his campaign, the former president claimed the document was another sign of the “Witch Hunt” against him and asked his supporters for more money.

“This is an absolute DISGRACE. These rabid left-wing prosecutors don’t care about uncovering the truth. They don’t care about administering justice or upholding the rule of law,” he wrote to his donors in an email with the subject line “LEAKED CHARGES AGAINST ME.”

“The Grand Jury testimony has not even FINISHED – but it’s clear the District Attorney has already decided how this case will end.”

Online commentators also began speculating that the document was a hack or maybe a leak; after all, the unthinkable and unexpected already happened once in recent months, with the 2022 leak of a draft opinion of the Supreme Court’s eventual decision overturning Roe v Wade.

Republican lawmakers meanwhile flew into a rage.

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"This is OUTRAGEOUS government conduct and is a very legitimate basis to deem the entire Grand Jury process tainted & corrupted,” Florida Representative Matt Gaetz wrote on social media. “MOTION TO DISMISS!!!"

The overarching political narratives – judgment day for Mr Trump, or a political prosecution gone too far – had for a time outrun the verifiable facts on the ground.

All the while, the actual grand jury process, the body that eventually recommended Mr Trump’s fourth major criminal indictment of the year, continued throughout Monday, extending into after-hours testimony from Georgia officials.

Outside, police continued with a stepped-up security posture including K-9 dogs.

Media organisations surrounded the court complex, with lines of tents and cameras that heightened the atmosphere of anticipation.

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When the indictment was unsealed it emerged that there were 13 felony charges against Mr Trump, including RICO, conspiracy to commit forgery, filing false documents, Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer and more.

In addition, 18 Trump associates have also been indicted, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

The document drama was the latest bizarre twist in a high-profile investigation that began shortly after an infamous 2021 phone call, in which Mr Trump was recorded giving explicit requests for top state officials to “find” him enough votes to reverse Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia.

Most recently, Mr Trump has falsely claimed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had an affair with a rapper who was the target of a racketeering probe by her office.