An Atlanta-area special grand jury concluded its investigation into efforts by former President Trump to overturn the 2020 election, reports Politico. Judge Robert McBurney said the panel “has now issued its final report.” It was not clear what the grand jury put in its report regarding Trump. The special grand jury is expected to make a charging recommendation on whether efforts by Trump and other targets to overturn the 2020 election violated state law. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis must make the ultimate charging decision after presenting the panel’s findings to a regular grand jury. Operating for a year and a half, the special grand jury heard testimony from some of Trump’s closest allies, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorney Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). McBurney set a Jan. 24 hearing to consider whether to unseal the panel’s recommendations and findings.
The panel spent months probing efforts by top Trump allies deputizing GOP activists to pose as presidential electors, even though Trump lost the state. That effort was a part of Trump’s strategy to overturn the 2020 election when Congress met to count electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021. The special grand jury also probed Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021 phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, famously asking election officials to “find” enough votes to reverse his defeat. Several witnesses, including Graham and Meadows, challenged the special grand jury’s authority. However, Meadows lost a court battle and Graham was required to testify after a legal challenge that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Willis also publicly indicated her interest in bringing other key Trump allies before the special grand jury, making deposition requests and subpoenas for figures like former national security adviser Mike Flynn, who lost his own Florida legal battle against the panel, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Commentaires