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A special jury investigating US president Donald Trump and his allies’ efforts to overturn an election defeat in Georgia said several witnesses committed perjury, and recommended “appropriate indictments.”
The panel recommended that district attorneys “seek appropriate charges for these crimes where the evidence is strong.” But the report did not name those accused of cheating.
In addition to the section on perjury, the report’s introduction and conclusion were released Thursday. But any recommendation on potential criminal charges for specific people will remain pending for now.
The jury said it found “unanimously that there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 Georgia presidential election that could have affected the election.”
Trump and his allies have made unproven claims about widespread voter fraud and repeatedly chastised Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp for not acting to reverse their losses.
“A decision is imminent,” the DA said last month
The panel also said that a belief that one or more witnesses may have committed perjury was found by a “majority of the grand jury,” without providing specifics.
The partial release was ordered Monday by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversaw the special jury.
US President Donald Trump asked Georgia’s secretary of state to ‘find’ more votes to win the state. The tapes of the calls emerged as the new Congress was sworn in, and several Republican senators were days away from their own challenge to the election results.
During a hearing last month, prosecutors asked McBurney not to release the report until charges were decided, while a coalition of media organizations pushed for the entire report to be made public immediately.
McBurney wrote in his order that it is not appropriate to release the full report now because it is important to protect the due process rights of the person recommended by the grand jury.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis denied the release, which indicated on Jan. 24 that “a decision is imminent” on how to proceed. Willis could be a more typical juror to seek an indictment.
The investigation is one of several that could lead to serious legal consequences for the former president as he tries to persuade voters to return him to the White House in 2024.
This week, former vice president Mike Pence confirmed receiving a subpoena from the special counsel at the federal level investigating the riots of January 6, 2021, in the Capitol and the events leading up to that day. The unrest was preceded by weeks of allegations of voter fraud by Trump that were dismissed in full by the courts, as well as by his administration’s cybersecurity officials, who called the vote “the most secure in American history.”
Several potential paths of inquiry
Based on the witnesses called to testify before the special grand jury, it is clear that Willis is focused on several areas. These include:
- Calls by Trump and others to Georgia officials after the 2020 election.
- A group of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed the certificate in December 2020 falsely stated that Trump had won the state and that they were “elected and qualified” voters.
- False allegations of election fraud were made during a meeting of state legislators at the Georgia Capitol in December 2020.
- Copying of data and software from election equipment in rural Coffee County by computer forensics team hired by Trump allies.
- Alleged attempts to coerce Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman into confessing to election fraud.
- The sudden resignation of the US attorney in Atlanta in January 2021.
WATCH l Ruby Freeman’s January 6 congressional committee testimony:
Ruby Freeman, a former election worker for Fulton County, Ga., said the FBI warned her to leave her home until after Joe Biden’s inauguration because of threats she received.
Trump associates, Georgia officials testify
Over the course of about seven months, the grand jury heard from 75 witnesses, among Trump allies, including former New York mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Georgia’s top officials, such as Kemp and Raffensperger, also appeared on the panel.
Trump, who has publicly refused to accept that Joe Biden will win the November 2020 election, appeared deeply troubled by the loss in Georgia and what he saw as the failure of Republican state elected officials to fight for him.
Read the general section of the special jury report:
Georgia tipped Biden by about 12,000 votes, making him the first Democratic presidential candidate to win there since 1992.
State and federal officials, including Trump’s attorney general, have consistently said the election was secure and there was no significant evidence of fraud.
Willis has said since the beginning of the investigation two years ago that he was interested in the January 2, 2021 phone call, in which Trump advised Raffensperger that he could “find” the votes needed to reverse the loss in the state.
“All I want is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is more than we have,” Trump said during the call.
Trump has repeatedly said his phone call with Raffensperger was “perfect,” and he told The Associated Press last month that he felt “very confident” he would not be indicted.
Willis last summer sent a letter informing several people, including Giuliani and the state of 16 fraudulent voters, that they could face criminal charges.
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