Trump lawyers move to quash Ga. grand jury report, evidence
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump filed a motion in Georgia court Monday seeking to quash the release of the final report of an Atlanta-area special grand jury that investigated whether Mr. Trump and his allies broke the law when they sought to overturn Mr. Trump’s 2020 election loss in the state.
The motion filed in Fulton County Superior Court also seeks to “preclude the use of any evidence derived” from the special grand jury investigation, claiming it was “conducted under an unconstitutional statute” and “through an illegal and unconstitutional process” that violated Mr. Trump’s due process rights.
The filing comes as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to announce in coming weeks whether she will file charges in the case. In January, Ms. Willis told a judge that charging decisions in the case are “imminent.”
Mr. Trump’s attorneys are also pushing to recuse Ms. Willis’ office from the case and to prevent prosecutors from pursuing “any further proceedings in this matter,” including indictments, claiming Ms. Willis violated “prosecutorial standards” and Mr. Trump’s constitutional rights in part by publicly commenting on the case.
“The whole world has watched the process of the [ special purpose grand jury] unfold and what they have witnessed was a process that was confusing, flawed and, at times, blatantly unconstitutional,” the 483-page filing reads. “Given the scrutiny and the gravity of the investigation and those individuals involved — namely, the movant President Donald J. Trump — this process should have been handled correctly, fairly, and with deference to the law and the highest ethical standards.”
Jeff DiSantis, a spokesman for Ms. Willis, declined to comment. Prosecutors are expected to file a court brief in response in coming days.
The legal missive comes as Mr. Trump and his team have signaled a more aggressive strategy toward the various criminal investigations into his conduct. On Saturday, Mr. Trump claimed in a social media post that he would be arrested Tuesday as part of a Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into a hush-money payment Mr. Trump made to an adultfilm actress and called on his supporters to protest.
In Monday’s filing, Mr. Trump’s Georgia-based legal team — Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg — argued that Georgia state law is “unconstitutionally vague” about the use and scope of a special grand jury, and the “failures in the statutory framework directly impact the fundamental fairness of the proceedings and violate the due process rights of those involved.”
Mr. Trump’s lawyers argue the special grand jury “involved a constant lack of clarity to the law” and “inconsistent applications of basic constitutional protections” for those asked to testify before it and those who are believed to be targets of the investigation.
They not only challenge Ms. Willis’ handling of the case but also Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversaw the special grand jury, arguing he violated the rights of witnesses and those party to the investigation by giving improper legal guidance — including to jurors.