US President Donald Trump attends a campaign rally for Republican US senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, ahead of the January runoff election to determine control of the US Senate, in Valdosta, Georgia, USA, December 5, 2020.
Jonathan Ernst Reuters
A judge in Georgia is set Thursday to make public part of a special grand jury’s final report on its investigation into possible election meddling by former President Donald Trump and his allies.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney earlier this week ordered the release of the report’s introduction and conclusion, as well as sections detailing jurors’ concerns that some witnesses may have lied under oath.
The section is “ripe for publication” because it does not identify witnesses, McBurney said in Monday’s order. He delayed the release until Thursday to give the parties involved time to discuss possible redactions.
The full report will include a recommendation on whether anyone should face criminal charges related to the 2020 Georgia election. But that portion will not be released publicly — at least not yet, McBurney said.
He has directed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office to provide periodic updates on the status of the investigation so they can reevaluate whether other parts of the final report “can be properly disclosed.”
The decision to issue charges or not against Willis, the investigation is still ongoing.
A special grand jury sat down last May to investigate possible attempts to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 election, and recommended that someone should face criminal charges.
After sifting through the evidence and hearing testimony from dozens of witnesses — including several Trump allies, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C. – the jury in December sent the final report, recommending that it be published.
“After reviewing the final report, the undersigned concluded that the special purpose jury did not exceed the scope of its established mission,” McBurney wrote in Monday’s order. “It really provided the District Attorney’s office with exactly what it asked for: a list of who should (or shouldn’t) be charged, and for what, in connection with the actions (and consequences) of the 2020 general election in Georgia.
But he ruled that disclosure of the entire report “at this time would be inappropriate,” citing due process concerns.
Georgia is one of several key swing states that voted for President Joe Biden, then the Democratic candidate, against Trump in the 2020 presidential election. basically about widespread electoral fraud.
Trump, his allies and his legal team are working to defeat Biden in the general election by challenging the results in Georgia and other key states.
Lawsuits filed in late 2020 by the Trump campaign have almost all been rejected in court. In early January 2021, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, and asked him to “find” enough votes to reverse his defeat in the Peach State.
Raffensperger refused, and the state’s electoral vote eventually went to Biden – after a mob of violent Trump supporters, spurred on by claims of a fraudulent election, had been driven from the US Capitol.
Trump was impeached in the House for inciting riots, then acquitted in the Senate. In February 2021, Willis opened an investigation into Trump’s calls to Raffensperger.
This expands the news. Please check back for updates.