Georgia grand jury says witnesses in Trump inquiry may have lied under oath
WASHINGTON — Portions of the long-awaited Georgia special grand jury report on former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election were released Thursday, raising questions that cannot yet be answered.
A majority of the grand jury believed that one or more witnesses who testified before it may have lied under oath. But the parts of the report that were released Thursday did not name those witnesses.
“The Grand Jury recommends that the District Attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling,” the report says of the possible perjury.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled Monday that the public can read three sections of the Fulton County special-purpose grand jury’s report: the introduction, conclusion and a portion in which the jury “discusses its concern that some witnesses may have lied under oath ... to the grand jury.”
The rest of the report,including charging recommendations, will be kept under wraps until the district attorney’s investigation concludes.
The nine pages released Thursday note that the special grand jury heard from 75 witnesses and concluded, by unanimous vote, that there was no widespread election fraud in Georgia. But there was little new information.
The introduction gives a general impression of the legal jeopardy Trump and his allies might face for recruiting bogus presidential electors in Georgia even after its Republican leaders had certified Democrat Joe Biden’s victory there. Trump made multiple phone calls to pressure state officials after the election; in one, he asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 more votes for Trump.
How a team of cyber experts and lawyers came together in the days after the 2020 election to try to find information suggesting fraud, in an attempt to keep Trump in office despite his defeat.
The Georgia investigation is not the only potential criminal imbroglio facing Trump, but it may be the furthest along.
The full report outlines the nearly seven months of testimony heard by the special grand jury, including from high-profile witnesses such as Trump attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R- S.C.).
The full report for Fulton County Dist. Atty. Fani Willis includes “a roster of who should (or should not) be indicted, and for what, in relation to the conduct (and aftermath) of the 2020 general election in Georgia,” McBurney wrote Monday.
It is up to Willis to decide whether to seek indictments and pursue any charges recommended by the special grand jury.
Willis pressed McBurney three weeks ago to keep the report sealed to protect the ongoing criminal investigation, telling the judge in a hearing that charging decisions in the case were “imminent.”
A coalition of media organizations has pressed McBurney to release the report, citing transparency and public interest.
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