The Fulton County, Georgia special grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden in the Peach State has recommended perjury charges be brought against several witnesses they believe were suspected during their testimony have lied.
Earlier in the week, Judge Robert McBurney ordered a partial version of the grand jury’s report — the introduction, conclusion and a section on the perjury allegations — to be released, while most of the report remains sealed for the time being to protect procedural rights of witnesses and potential defendants .
In one of those published sections, released Thursday, the grand jury wrote that “a majority” of members believed that “one or more of the 75 witnesses who testified during the inquest may have committed perjury.”
“The grand jury recommends that the district attorney make appropriate charges for such crimes when the evidence is compelling,” they added.
Although it is not yet known which of the 75 witnesses who testified before the panel allegedly lied to the grand jury, many of the witnesses who could be charged with perjury are among Mr Trump’s closest associates and allies.
The grand jury heard testimony from Mr. Trump’s former personal attorney, disgraced ex-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, his former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, as well as other Trumpworld figures involved in Mr. Trump’s push to reverse his loss weeks before the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
One of those witnesses, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, fought a lengthy court battle to block the subpoena before finally being forced to testify before the grand jury.
The grand jury also heard testimony from several Georgia elected officials, including Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
In the introduction to its report, the grand jury noted that after hearing “extensive testimony on the subject of alleged voter fraud from poll workers, investigators, technical experts and Georgia State employees and officials, as well as persons who continue to allege fraud occurred,” they voted unanimously, noting that “there has been no widespread fraud in the 2020 Georgia presidential election that could cause that election to be overturned.”
Judge McBurney on Monday ordered the vast majority of the report to remain sealed, including a list of individuals against whom the special jury recommended indictment. But he also ordered the release of the three parts of the report, which were released Thursday: the introduction and conclusion of the grand jury’s report, and the section detailing the grand jurors’ concerns that multiple witnesses joined the grand jury lied to them in the course of the investigation.
Georgia Election Investigation (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
“Upon review of the final report, the undersigned concludes that the Special Purpose Grand Jury did not exceed the scope of its mandated duties. In fact, it provided the district attorney with exactly what she requested: a list of who should (or should not) be charged and for what in relation to the conduct (and consequences) of the 2020 Georgia general election,” he wrote, adding that the law would superficially require publication of the report in its full form.
However, the judge said there were compelling reasons for withholding parts of the report from the public at this time, writing: “But like many things in the law, it’s not that simple”.
He added that due process requires that portions of the report containing the names of potential targets for indictment remain classified for the time being, as well as portions identifying those named in the report who were not allowed to appear before the grand jury . However, he stressed that these sections of the report will not be kept secret forever.
“The consequence of these flaws in due process is not that the grand jury’s final report is forever suppressed for special purposes, or that its recommendations for or against an indictment are in any way flawed or suspect. Rather, the consequence is that these recommendations are for the time being only for the eyes of the district attorney,” he said.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began shortly after the infamous Jan. 2, 2021 call in which Mr. Trump called on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes he needs to reverse an 11,000 vote deficit , with the grand jury investigation into election interference .
Over the course of about six months, the special grand jury heard testimony from dozens of witnesses, including numerous close Trump associates and various senior Georgia state officials. The case is among several across the country threatening the former president with legal jeopardy if he seeks a second term in 2024.
As the grand jury heard evidence from June 2022 to December 2022, it became clear that Ms. Willis was focused on several areas: phone calls from Trump and his allies to Georgia officials; false testimonies by Trump officials before Legislative Committees in Georgia; a group of 16 Republicans who signed a charter that falsely said Trump had won the state and that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” voters; the abrupt resignation of the US Attorney in Atlanta in January 2021; alleged attempts to pressure a Fulton County poll worker; and voting equipment violations in a rural district in South Georgia.
Brian Kemp’s Vision Georgia (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Special grand juries in Georgia cannot bring indictments, but instead issue a final report with recommendations for action to be taken. It is then up to the district attorney to decide whether to press charges before a regular grand jury.
However, at a court hearing before Judge McBurney earlier this month, Ms Willis said that “decisions are imminent” on whether she will pursue indictments by a regular grand jury against people involved in Mr Trump’s push to reverse his loss to Mr Biden .
During the investigation, she has repeatedly said that she would go where the facts lead. It would be an extraordinary move for her to impeach Trump himself, since no American president has ever been indicted in court.
Regarding who might be charged based on its investigation, the inquiry has solicited testimony from and about numerous allies of the twice-indicted ex-president, including Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Graham, Mr. Meadows and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, as well John Eastman and other attorneys involved in Trump’s attempts to remain in power.
In a statement, a spokesman for Mr Trump indicated that sections of the grand jury report released on Thursday “do not even mention [former] President Trump’s name” and “have nothing to do with that [former] President because [former] President Trump has done absolutely nothing wrong.”
“The President has participated in two perfect phone calls about the integrity of the Georgia election, as he is entitled to — indeed, as President, it was President Trump’s constitutional duty to ensure the security and integrity of the election,” they said.
With additional reporting by agencies
