GEORGIA DA SEEKS GRAND JURY IN ELECTION PROBE
Says witnesses have refused to take part without subpoenas
A district attorney in Atlanta on Thursday asked a judge to convene a special grand jury to help a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
The inquiry is seen by legal experts as potentially perilous for the former president. The grand jury request from the district attorney in Fulton County, Fani Willis, had been expected after crucial witnesses refused to participate voluntarily. A grand jury could issue subpoenas compelling those witnesses to provide information.
The distinction of a special grand jury is that it would focus exclusively on the Trump investigation, while regular grand juries handle many cases and cannot spend as much time on a single one. The Georgia case is one of two active criminal investigations known to involve the former president and his circle; the other is the examination of his financial dealings by the Manhattan district attorney.
“The District Attorney’s Office has received information indicating a reasonable probability that the State of Georgia’s administration of elections in 2020, including the State’s election of the President of the United States, was subject to possible criminal disruptions,” Willis wrote in a letter to Christopher Brasher, the chief judge of the Fulton County Superior Court. The letter was first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Brasher declined to comment.
Willis added, “We have made efforts to interview multiple witnesses and gather evidence, and a significant number of witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.”
The inquiry is the only criminal case known to have been taken up by a prosecutor that focuses directly on Trump’s efforts to overturn the election. It is set to play out in a state taking center stage in the nation’s battle over voting rights, and one where a heated Republican primary for governor is testing Trump’s strength as a kingmaker in the Republican Party.
If the investigation proceeds, legal experts say that the former president’s potential criminal exposure could include charges of racketeering or conspiracy to commit election fraud.
The inquiry centers on
Trump’s actions in the two months between his election loss and Congress’ certification of the results, including a call he made to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, to pressure him to “find 11,780 votes” — the margin by which Trump lost the state.
Willis said that Raffensperger was among those who had refused to cooperate without a subpoena.
“We already have cooperated,” Raffensperger said an interview with Fox News on Thursday. “Any information that they’ve requested, we sent it to them. And if we’re compelled to come before a grand jury, obviously, we will follow the law and come before a grand jury and testify.”
Representatives for Trump did not respond to a request for comment Thursday, but the former president did release a statement characterizing his phone call with Raffensperger as “perfect.” He has cast other investigations, including one being conducted by New York Attorney General Letitia James, as politically motivated. Fulton is the most populous county in Georgia and a Democratic stronghold, and Willis is a Democrat.
The Georgia inquiry is one of several criminal, civil and congressional investigations focused on Trump.