Georgia grand jury ends election inquiry
District attorney in Atlanta will decide whether to pursue indictments of Trump and Republican allies.
ATLANTA — The special grand jury in Atlanta that has been investigating whether former President Trump and his allies committed any crimes while trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia has finished its work.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who was overseeing the panel, issued an order Monday dissolving the special grand jury. The twopage order says the grand jurors had completed a final report, and a majority of the county’s superior court judges voted to dissolve the panel.
The end of the special grand jury moves the investigation one step closer to possible criminal charges against Trump and others. The decision whether to seek an indictment from a regular grand jury will be up to Fulton County Dist. Atty. Fani Willis.
Over the course of about six months, the special grand jury has heard testimony from dozens of witnesses, including Trump associates and assorted high-ranking Georgia state officials.
The case is among several around the country that threaten legal peril for the former president as he seeks a second term in 2024.
Special grand juries in Georgia cannot issue indictments but can issue a final report recommending actions to be taken.
Georgia law says grand juries are “authorized to recommend to the court the publication of the whole or any part of their general presentments,” and the judge must follow that recommendation.
The special grand jury voted to recommend that its report be published, McBurney wrote in his order.
“Unresolved is the question of whether the special purpose grand jury’s final report constitutes a presentment,” the judge wrote, adding that he would hold a hearing on that issue Jan. 24. He said the district attorney’s office and news outlets would be given a chance to make arguments at the hearing.
Willis opened the investigation in early 2021, shortly after a recording surfaced of a phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. During that call, Trump suggested that Georgia’s top elections official “find” the votes needed to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the state.
Since then, it has become clear that Willis is focusing on several areas: phone calls made to Georgia officials by Trump and his allies; false statements made by Trump associates before Georgia legislative committees; a panel of 16 Republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating that Trump had won in Georgia and that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors; the abrupt resignation in January 2021 of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta; alleged attempts to pressure a Fulton County election worker; and breaches of election equipment in a rural south Georgia county.
Lawyers for Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Trump attorney, confirmed before he was questioned by the special grand jury in August that they had been told their client faces possible criminal charges. The 16 Republican fake electors have also been told they are targets of the investigation, according to public court filings.
It is possible that others have also been notified that they are targets of the investigation.
Trump and his allies have consistently denied any wrongdoing, with the former president repeatedly describing his call with Raffensperger as “perfect” and dismissing Willis’ investigation as a “strictly political Witch Hunt!”