ATLANTA (AP) — Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was at a downtown Atlanta courthouse Thursday to testify before a special grand jury investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others illegally attempted to overthrow the 2020 election in influencing Georgia.
Flynn, a retired lieutenant general, had attempted not to appear before the panel. But a Florida judge said last month he must testify, and an appeals court earlier this week declined to stay that order while Flynn’s appeal was pending.
Flynn could be one of the last witnesses the panel hears from, as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the investigation, said she wants to wrap up the special jury soon. The grand jurors have already questioned a number of other high-profile Trump associates, including former New York Mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Because Flynn lives outside of Georgia, Willis had to ask a judge where he lives in Florida to order his appearance. She stated in the documents filed with the court that Flynn was a “necessary and essential witness” to the investigation.
In an interview on a right-wing cable news channel in mid-December 2020, Flynn said Trump could “take military capabilities” and place them in swing states and “basically repeat an election in any of those states,” Willis wrote in a petition attempting to validate his testimony to force.
Flynn also met with Trump, attorney Sidney Powell and others associated with the Trump campaign at the White House on Dec. 18, 2020, for a meeting that news reports said would “focus on issues such as invoking martial law, the confiscation of voting machines, and the appointment of Powell as special counsel investigating the 2020 election,” Willis wrote.
And he attended meetings at the home of conservative attorney Lin Wood in South Carolina in November 2020. Willis wrote that Wood said in a television interview that they met to explore ways to influence election results in Georgia and elsewhere. Wood has said he testified before the special grand jury last month.
Special grand juries in Georgia work behind closed doors and are generally used to investigate complex cases involving many witnesses. They can coerce evidence and subpoena testimony, but they cannot press charges. Once the investigation is complete, a special grand jury can recommend action, but it remains up to the prosecutor to decide whether to then bring an indictment from a regular grand jury.
