SHOCKING! Georgia Grand Jury Thinks Trump's Election Fraud Witnesses May Have Lied
A redacted report from a special grand jury, impaneled at the request of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to aid an investigation into efforts by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn his election loss in Georgia, says some witnesses likely committed perjury, and recommends “appropriate indictments.”
Just who those witnesses might be is what’s missing from the report. During a hearing last month, prosecutors urged Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who oversaw the special grand jury. not to release the report until they decide on charges.
A coalition of media organizations called for releasing the entire report immediately. The judge ruled that it's not appropriate to release the full report now because it's important to protect the due process rights of people for whom the grand jury recommended charges.
The panel found no evidence of “widespread fraud” in the 2020 election, effectively undercutting the rationale for former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn his loss in that state.
The special grand jury was not empowered to make indictments; a regular grand jury will act on the prosecutor’s recommendations provided theory they think the evidence is sufficient. The old saw about grand juries being willing to indict a ham sandwich if a DA asks, may not apply here, since it is deep red Georgia, after all.
During its tenure, the grand jurors heard from 75 witnesses, including former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Georgia officials, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp, also appeared before the panel.
The former President and his allies have made unproven claims of widespread voter fraud and berated Raffensperger and Kemp for not acting to overturn his loss. State and federal officials have repeatedly said the election was secure and there was no evidence of significant fraud.
The basis for the investigation was the release of a recording of a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which Trump suggested to Raffensperger that he could “find” the votes needed to overturn his loss in the state.
“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said during that call. “Because we won the state.”
He now says his call with Raffensperger was “perfect.” and has told reporters he was “very confident” that he would not be indicted.
The Fulton County DA’s investigation focused on several areas, including:
Phone calls by Trump and others to Georgia officials in the wake of the 2020 election.
A group of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate in December 2020 falsely stating that Trump had won the state and claimed they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.
False allegations of election fraud made during meetings of Georgia state legislators in December 2020.
Copying of data and software from election equipment in rural Coffee County by a computer forensics team hired by Trump allies.
Alleged attempts to pressure Fulton County elections worker Ruby Freeman into falsely confessing to election fraud.
The abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta in January 2021.
Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and the 16 fraudulent electors have all received letters informing them they could face criminal charges.
Trump, whose campaign for the Republican nomination in 2024 is already underway, has repeatedly called probes into his post-election behavior a “witch hunt.” He’s called Willis, who is Black, a racist for investigating him.
And, should he be indicted, he’s urged MAGAts to stage massive protests in Atlanta, the seat of Fulton County, and other cities.
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According to the Washington Post over the weekend, a research firm hired by the former president’s campaign was paid to investigate the assertion of fraudulence in the 2020 election. They found nothing to support Trump’s claims, so their findings were deep-sixed.
The firm was the Berkeley Research Group, and they hired a team of around a dozen people to look into alleged voter fraud and irregularities in six states.
They reported their findings in a contentious phone call to Trump and his former chief of staff Mark Meadows just days before the rally prior to the march on the Capitol triggering the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.
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Finally, the New York Times newest (see, we’re not liberals) columnist David French says Donald Trump’s days as an unindicted law breaker are numbered. If I had a nickel for all the similar predictions since 2016, I’d be a wealthy donor to the Democratic Party.
French tries to get all technical on this, pointing out the intent and application of various laws. But this ignores the decades of wrongdoing prior to Trump’s ascension to the presidency.
Maybe he’s right about the time being right for a reckoning; there certainly seem to be investigations approaching closure. But an indictment isn’t the same as a conviction, and I can see Trump playing charges leveled against him as an incitement to violence.
As we’ve seen repeatedly over the years, there are two standards in our judicial system, one for the not-wealthy and another for the not-poor. Trump has played the game of business and politics like a well-connected mobster, and he’s poisoned the well of public opinion by positioning himself as the antithesis of what he really is.
In Trump’s world, every accusation is a confession.
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