ATLANTA (AP) — A special grand jury investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies illegally attempted to overturn his defeat in the 2020 Georgia election appears to be completing its work, but many questions remain.
The investigation is one of several that could lead to criminal charges against the former president as he urges voters to bring him back to the White House in 2024.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who began the investigation nearly two years ago, said she will go where the facts lead. It would be an extraordinary move for her to impeach Trump herself.
“Even if he is acquitted by a jury, it would be an epic thing for American history if he were tried and had a public trial with evidence,” said Clark Cunningham, a law professor at Georgia State University.
Here’s what we know as the special grand jury appears to be winding down:
WHAT’S NEW?
For about six months, the grand jury reviewed evidence and heard testimony from dozens of witnesses, including high-profile Trump aides and senior state officials. A prosecutor on Willis’s team said during a November hearing that they were short on witnesses and did not expect the special jury to last much longer.
The Grand Jurors are expected to produce a final report with recommendations for possible further action. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversees the panel, will review the report and recommend that the chief justice of the court dissolve the special panel. County Superior Court judges will then vote on whether to dismiss the special grand jurors or whether further investigation is needed.
The special grand jury cannot indict. Willis will decide whether to go to a regular grand jury to pursue criminal charges.
WHAT DID WE LEARN ABOUT THE INVESTIGATION?
More than a year after the investigation opened, Willis revealed little. But ironically, when the special grand jury convened in June, whose proceedings were shrouded in mandatory secrecy, clues as to where the inquiry was headed began to emerge.
That’s because every time Willis wanted to compel testimony from a person living outside of Georgia, she had to file papers at a public trial to explain why that person was a “necessary and essential witness.” Additionally, anyone fighting a subpoena had to do so in public court filings and hearings.
In the filings Willis filed to compel testimony from some Trump associates, she said she wanted to know about her communications with the Trump campaign and others “involved in the coordinated effort of multiple states to determine the results of the election.” in November 2020 in Georgia and elsewhere.”
Prominent Trump allies solicited to testify include former New York Mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and John Eastman and other attorneys involved in Trump’s attempts to remain in power.
“We learned from the identities of the witnesses that this is a broader conspiracy they are looking at,” said Norm Eisen, who served as special counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the first impeachment against Trump and co-authored a Brookings Institution report analyzing the ” Reported Facts and Applicable Laws” in the Fulton County Inquiry.
WERE THERE SETBACKS?
A number of Trump advisers and allies fought Willis’s attempts to get her to testify, but Willis prevailed in most cases.
“I think that bodes well for the pretrial if she attacks,” Eisen said.
Willis made a notable misstep when she hosted a fundraiser for a Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, even though her investigations focused on the state’s bogus constituents, including Burt Jones, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. McBurney said this created “a simple — and real and untenable — conflict” and ruled that Willis Jones, who won the November election, could neither question nor charge.
WHAT WAS THE FOCUS OF THE INVESTIGATION?
The information that has become public has shown that Willis looked at:
– Phone calls from Trump and others to Georgia officials after the 2020 election
– A group of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a charter in December 2020 falsely claiming Trump won the state and was the state’s “duly elected and qualified” voters
– False allegations of voter fraud made during meetings of state legislators in the Georgia Capitol in December 2020
– The copying of voting machine data and software in rural Coffee County by a computer forensics team hired by Trump allies
– Alleged attempts to pressure Fulton County Election Worker Ruby Freeman into falsely admitting to voter fraud
— The abrupt resignation of the US attorney in Atlanta in January 2021
WHAT ABOUT THIS INFAMOUS CALL?
In a Jan. 2, 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the president suggested that the state’s top election official, a fellow Republican, could “find” the votes needed to amend his narrow loss reverse in the state Democrat Joe Biden.
A month later, Willis sent letters to Raffensperger and other senior state officials, directing them to keep records because she was “investigating attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 Georgia general election.”
Trump told Raffensperger he needed 11,780 votes, one more than Biden won. That was a mistake, Cunningham said, because the specific and transactional nature of that comment makes it hard to say he was just generally urging Raffensperger to investigate the alleged fraud.
However, other legal experts said prosecutors may struggle to prove criminal intent, which requires proof that actions were taken intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or negligently.
WHICH FEES CAN BE INCLUDED?
In her February 2021 letters to heads of state, Willis said she was reviewing possible crimes, including “promoting voter fraud, making false statements to state and local government agencies, conspiracy, extortion, breach of oath of office, and any involvement in violence or threats related to the.” electoral administration.”
Many believe Willis will face charges under the state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly known as RICO. In a high-profile indictment when she was an assistant district attorney, she successfully used that law to bring charges against Atlanta educators in a test-cheating scandal. She has also more recently used it to attack suspected gang activity.
State RICO law, which is broader than the federal version, requires prosecutors to establish a pattern of criminal activity by an entity, which may be an individual or a group of connected individuals. It allows prosecutors to claim involvement in a criminal pattern without having to prove that every person was involved in every act.
Eisen said RICO “appears to be most appropriate to the nature of the individuals testifying and the questions they wished to ask.”
As the special grand jury worked, Willis informed several individuals that they were targets of the investigation, including Giuliani and the state’s 16 bogus voters. It is possible that others have received similar notifications but have not made this publicly known.
WHAT DID TRUMP SAY?
The former president has consistently called his phone call with Raffensperger “perfect” and dismissed the Fulton County investigation as a witch hunt.
Criminal defense attorney Drew Findling, who is part of Trump’s Georgia legal team, said in August the focus on Trump was “clearly an erroneous and politically motivated pursuit.”
Trump allies have also denied any wrongdoing.
