America’s next Trump circus
Investigating 2020 Election Interference with a Fulton County Grand Jury: Prosecuting Newt Gingrich and Michael Flynn
ATLANTA — The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 election filed paperwork Friday seeking to compel testimony from a new batch of Trump allies, including former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the investigation into 2020 election interference, filed additional court petitions on Friday seeking to secure testimony from the out-of-state witnesses in front of the special grand jury meeting in Atlanta.
CNN reported previously that Flynn and Powell presented “outrageous” suggestions about changing the result of the election three weeks after Trump pardoned Flynn.
The petition for Gingrich’s testimony relies on “information made publicly available” by the U.S. House committee that’s investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Compelling testimony from witnesses who don’t live in Georgia is necessary to use a process that involves getting judges in other states to order them to appear. The petitions she filed Friday are essentially precursors to subpoenas.
CNN previously reported that the district attorney aims to quickly wrap up the grand jury’s work after the midterm elections and could begin issuing indictments as early as December, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Shedding Light on the 2020 Election Campaign Using Senator Ben Flynn’s Televised Newsmax Spotlight on “False Claims about Election Fraud, Seizing the Voting Machines, and Seizing Vo
Flynn didn’t immediately respond to email and phone messages seeking comment, and his lawyer also didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment. Gingrich referred questions to his attorney, who declined to comment. Herschmann couldn’t immediately be reached.
Willis has said she plans to take a monthlong break from public activity in the case leading up to the November midterm election, which is one month from Saturday.
The potential witnesses were urged to appear after the election. But the process for securing testimony from out-of-state witnesses sometimes takes a while, so it appears Willis is putting the wheels in motion for activity to resume after her self-imposed pause.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury, signed off on the petitions, certifying that each person whose testimony is sought is a “necessary and material” witness for the investigation.
It says that he was involved in a plan to run television ads that were “repeated and relied upon false claims about fraud in the 2020 election.” It encourages people to contact state officials to challenge the results based on those claims.
The petition states that Flynn was a guest on Newsmax and said that Trump could place military capability in swing states and potentially re-run the election.
He also met with Trump, attorney Sidney Powell and others at the White House on Dec. 18, 2020, for a meeting that, according to news reports, “focused on topics including invoking martial law, seizing voting machines, and appointing Powell as special counsel to investigate the 2020 election,” Willis wrote.
She wrote that the House committee also revealed that Herschmann had “multiple conversations” with Eastman, Giuliani, Powell “and others known to be associated with the Trump Campaign, related to their efforts to influence the results of the November 2020 elections in Georgia and elsewhere.” She said he had a “heated conversation” with him.
Penrose worked with Powell and others associated with the Trump campaign in late 2020 and early 2021.
He also communicated with Powell and others regarding an agreement to hire data solutions firm SullivanStrickler to copy data and software from voting system equipment in Coffee County, about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta, as well as in Michigan and Nevada, Willis wrote. Penrose did not immediately respond to an email and phone message seeking comment.
Willis wrote in a petition seeking Lee’s testimony that he was part of an effort to pressure elections worker Ruby Freeman, who was the subject of false claims about election fraud in Fulton County. He could not be reached for comment.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/08/1127637799/flynn-gingrich-testimony-georgia-election-probe
Grand jury investigation of the subpoena of the ex-President and the investigation of his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election
Special grand juries are impaneled in Georgia to investigate complex cases with large numbers of witnesses and potential logistical concerns. Unlike regular grand jury, they can compel witnesses to testify for questions, and they can also subpoena a target of the investigation to testify.
The grand jury can make a recommendation after its investigation is complete. It’s the district attorney who makes the decision about asking a grand jury for an indictment.
Given the ex-President’s history of obstructing efforts to examine his tumultuous presidency, it would be a surprise if he does not fight the subpoena, although there might be part of him that would relish a primetime spot in a live hearing.
The committee still has a report to publish and could also request that the Justice Department pursue charges against Trump or his former aides for their roles in helping to incite the attack on the Capitol and their efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
“They are trying to make the case that Trump is Oz,” said CNN’s John King, interpreting the committee’s subpoena of Trump. “He presents himself as all powerful, but when you look, it’s actually a little guy behind a curtain trying to pull a machine.”
Don’t be in a hurry. The full House, which is controlled by Democrats until at least January, can vote to hold him in contempt of Congress, something it has been done with several other other uncooperative witnesses.
Prosecution. If found guilty, as Bannon was, Trump could theoretically face a minimum of 30 days in jail. He is due to be sentenced for failing to comply with the subpoena.
The Response to Donald Trump’s White House Address on the Subpoena of the High-Power Judiciary Committee on Civil Liberation
George Clinton said during an appearance on CNN that no one will win the election. This is the marker laying part of it. This is going to be about the response from Trump.
Conway did point out the Supreme Court has already made clear where it stands on Trump’s status as a former president when it ignored his attempt to block the National Archives from sharing information with the committee.
But the Justice Department, rather than go after Trump for ignoring congressional subpoena, if it comes to that, has arguably larger and more important inquiries that involve his treatment of classified documents after he left the White House and his effort to overturn the election as president.
Liz Cheney of Wyoming said the committee felt it had enough information to make a referral to the Department of Justice. She noted that more than 30 witnesses have invoked the Fifth Amendment in regards to their dealings with the former President.
Most recently, in 1974, Gerald Ford testified voluntarily as president before a House subcommittee about his decision to pardon former President Richard Nixon.
President Thomas Jefferson declined to appear at former Vice President Aaron Burr’s trial for treason even though he was subpoenaed by then-Chief Justice John Marshall. Some documents were provided by Jefferson. A jury decided that burr was acquitted.
The Supreme Court Hearing of Donald J. Trump’s Case for Tax Violating Business Practices During the January 6, 2020 White House Reheaval
New York investigators were given access to the financial documents by the Supreme Court. Trump’s company is going on trial for violating tax laws.
A judge forced him to comply with subpoenas from New York Attorney General Letitia James as part of her civil inquiry into his business practices. The Fifth Amendment protects you from self-incrimination.
James filed a lawsuit against Trump, his three oldest children and the Trump Organization. On Thursday, James asked a state court to block Trump from moving assets to shield them from the lawsuit.
That means the January 6 committee must plan to wrap up all of its work by January 3, 2023, when the next Congress begins and the January 6 committee may be no more.
The grand jury subpoena that has been issued to Pence seeks documents and testimony related to the events of January 6, 2021, when the US Capitol was attacked by pro-Trump rioters as Congress prepared to certify the 2020 election results.
There are mounting controversies that suggest that the nation’s political and legal systems are far from handling the aftermath of Trump’s single White House term. GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, alluded to that reality when she said on Sunday that the panel wants to avoid Trump turning his potential testimony into a “circus.”
The developments that could hurt Trump happened off stage. It is not known if the former President will ever be charged with a crime or if he will have to answer for his presidency that taxed the rule of law and led to his exit from power.
Trump is confronting more than one case of criminal vulnerability. It is possible that he could be indicted in multiple separate investigations that are moving forward with possible accountability, according to new developments on multiple fronts.
As the House select committee hearing went on, the Supreme Court sent word from across the road that it’s got no interest in getting sucked into Trump’s bid to derail a Justice Department probe into classified material he kept at Mar-a-Lago.
On Tuesday, Trump’s team sought emergency intervention from the appeals court. The judges of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals are considering whether to put the decision on hold.
For all the political drama that surrounds the continuing revelations over one of the darkest days in modern American history on January 6, it’s the showdown over classified documents that appears to represent the ex-President’s most clear cut and immediate threat of true criminal exposure.
The former President has a point in asking why the panel waited so long to call him. But his obstruction of the investigation and attempts to prevent former aides from testifying means he is on thin ice in criticizing its conduct. And it is not unusual for investigators to build a case before approaching the most prominent potential target of a probe.
Some of the witnesses who have already appeared before the grand jury but refused to answer some questions related to their interactions with Trump will now likely have to return.
CNN reported that a Trump employee had told the FBI that he was directed by the former President to move boxes from a basement storage room at his club after receiving a subpoena. The FBI also has surveillance footage showing a staffer moving the boxes.
Trump’s attorneys offered to let federal investigators watch the Bedminster search, but they did not accept the offer. Trump lawyers did not make a similar offer for the search of other properties, despite the response from the Justice Department. It would be highly unusual for the Justice Department to observe searches that aren’t conducted by law enforcement.
Special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November, is overseeing the criminal investigations into the retention of national defense information at Mar-a-Lago and parts of the January 6, 2021, insurrection. The situation related to the Mar-a-Lago documents and the Trump team’s response to the subpoena has become an important aspect of the investigation.
In addition, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is investigating Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, his role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection, and his possible mishandling of classified material. In New York, a criminal probe led by the Manhattan district attorney is still underway, and Trump’s namesake business is fighting a civil fraud lawsuit from the state attorney general.
The First Pre-Congress Meeting of the Select Committee on the Study of Trump and his Ruling with the Unselect Committee: Budowich vs. Warrington
As always, Trump came out fighting on Thursday one of those days when the seriousness of a crisis can be assessed by the way he uses his rhetoric.
First Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich mocked the unanimous 9-0 vote in the select committee to subpoena the former President for documents and testimony.
Pres Trump will not be intimidated by their rhetoric or actions. Budo-Wong claimed that Trump-endorsed candidates will sweep the Midterms and restore America first leadership and solutions.
Then the former President weighed in on his Truth Social network with another post that failed to answer the accusations against him, but that was clearly designed to stir a political reaction from his supporters.
The Unselect Committee wanted me to testify months ago. The final moments of their meeting, why did they waituntil the very end? Because the Committee is a total ‘BUST,’” The man wrote.
Trump’s attorney, David Warrington, said in a statement with the release of the lawsuit in part that “long-held precedent and practice maintain that separation of powers prohibits Congress from compelling a President to testify before it.”
The DOJ had to keep the DOJ from subpoenaing the January 6, 2016 attack, but not threaten to sue President Donald Trump
The investigation was no longer limited to what happened on January 6, but about the future according to Rep. Liz Cheney.
“With every effort to excuse or justify the conduct of the former President, we chip away at the foundation of our Republic,” said the Wyoming lawmaker, who won’t be returning to Congress after losing her primary this summer to a Trump-backed challenger.
The House panel investigating the January attack voted on Thursday to take a stance on whether to subpoena President Donald Trump.
She said that they are obligated to seek answers from the man who started it all. “And every American is entitled to those answers, so we can act now to protect our republic.”
The records were called “extraordinarily sensitive” by the Justice Department and asked to be kept out of the dispute.
The DOJ argued that Cannon abused her discretion, and inflicted an intrusion on the Executive Branch’s authority to control the use and distribution of sensitive government records.
Cannon had blocked the DOJ from getting access to documents marked classified and seized from Mar-a-Lago, which slowed down the case and gave Trump more time to prepare his defense.
A panel of judges from the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to freeze parts of the orders while the legal dispute plays out.
The Case for a Normal President: Trump’s Return to the White House and His Chaotic Charges in the U.S. Attorney’s Office
Trump believes that he has the right to possess certain government documents including those potentially containing the country’s most sensitive secrets. He said that the appeals court exceeded its authority in ruling against him.
“The Eleventh Circuit lacked jurisdiction to review, much less stay, an interlocutory order of the District Court providing for the Special Master to review materials seized from President Trump’s home,” Trump told the Supreme Court last week.
The appeals court order will make the senior US judge, Raymond Dearie, very impaired, and that it will slow time sensitive work.
“Any limit on the comprehensive and transparent review of materials seized in the extraordinary raid of a President’s home erodes public confidence in our system,” the filing said.
Cannon was appointed by Trump, which Elizabeth Prelogar said was a mistake and that the Justice Department had appealed the decision in lower courts.
The moment when the former President lashed out at Trump, presented Ron DeSantis with the biggest blow yet in his pseudo campaign, which could test Trump’s hold over the “Make America Great Again” movement. But Trump’s legal mire also may remind voters who rejected him in 2020 and some of his favored candidates in last year’s midterms why they were alienated by his chaotic leadership.
Trump dropped his clearest hint yet Saturday of a new White House run at a moment when he’s on a new collision course with the Biden administration, the courts and facts.
Trump never really went away after losing reelection in 2020, but a dizzying catalog of confrontations is vaulting him back into the center of US politics. It’s likely to deepen polarization in an already deeply divided nation. And Trump’s return to the spotlight probably means next month’s midterm elections and the early stages of the 2024 presidential race will be rocked by his characteristic chaos.
Those controversies also show that given the open legal and political loops involving the ex-President, a potential 2024 presidential campaign rooted in his claims of political persecution could create even more upheaval than his four years in office.
And while fierce differences are emerging between Democrats and Republicans over policy on the economy, abortion, foreign policy and crime in the 2022 midterms – while concerns about democracy often rank lower for voters – there is every chance the coming political period revolves mostly around the ex-President’s past and future.
If Republicans win the House next month, they will return to Trumpism and the political power of the former President who is holding on to the House GOP. Some leading “Make America Great Again” Republicans are already speaking of a possible drive to impeach Biden and have already signaled they will use their powers to investigate to rough up Biden for a possible clash with Trump in 2024.
Is it really in the public interest to cross the Rubicon of impeachment charges? An update from South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace
In Arizona, one of the ex-presidents favorite candidates is raising doubts about the election system because of her history of voter fraud. Lake thinks that it is not going to be fair.
According to the New York Post, one of the most powerful pro-Trump Republican said that impeachment of Biden was a possibility. South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace, however, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday she did not want to see tit-for-tat impeachment proceedings after Trump was twice impeached. She said she was against the process being “weaponized.” She noted that impeachment would have to be investigated, if Biden had committed impeachable offenses.
An already pro-Trump Republican presence in Washington is likely to expand after the midterms. A number of candidates running on a platform of election fraud are raising questions over whether they will accept the results if they lose their races in two weeks.
Trump predicted over the weekend, that he would be arrested this Tuesday, and there have been increasing indications that an indictment could be near. But the possible charges in this yearslong and somewhat obscure case could center on business violations or infringements of campaign finance law. All of which raises the question of whether it’s truly in the national interest to cross the Rubicon of charging a former president in a case that may be hard to explain to the public, lacks profound constitutional implications and may not be a slam dunk at trial.
The Committee on Investigations of a Republican Candidate: After the Biden Term, Joe Cheney and the First White House Re-Biden
Democrats have made their own attempts to return Trump to the political spotlight. President Joe Biden equated MAGA followers with “semi-fascism” and some campaigns have tried to scare critical suburban voters by warning pro-Trump candidates are a danger to democracy.
The party in control of Washington will be in bad shape if voters head to the polls worried about inflation and gasoline prices.
The ex-President told supporters at a rally in Texas on Saturday regarding the possibility of a new White House bid, “I will probably have to do it again.”
“It may take multiple days, and it will be done with a level of rigor and discipline and seriousness that it deserves,” Cheney told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
This will not be his first debate against Joe Biden and the circus, nor the food fight that broke out. This is too serious of a set of issues.
The committee uses testimonies and depositions behind closed doors and on video as well as highly produced presentations. Only its most sympathetic witnesses have shown up in person. The narrative has helped create a powerful one that paints a picture of Trump’s bad decisions and it deprived viewers of seeing witnesses under cross examination. It is difficult to assess if the committee’s case will stand up to the strictest standards in a court of law.
The prospect of video testimony over an intense period of days or hours is likely to be unappealing to the former President because it would be harder for him to dictate the terms of the exchanges and control how his testimony might be used.
If there is evidence a crime was committed, Garland would face a dilemma over whether the national interest lay in implementing the law to its full extent or whether the consequences of prosecuting a former commander in chief in a fractious political atmosphere could tear the country apart.
The country is close to a political and judicial precipice that could result in the indictment of a former president. The ex-commander in chief would make the historic twist even more inflammatory and pose the greatest stress test of America’s legal and governing institutions.
The Justice Department secured a court order for an aide to the president to answer questions under oath. He initially refused to answer questions, due to his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. CNN reported previously that prosecutors fought for more answers by immunizing his testimony.
The people said that the Judge of the DC District Court had granted immunity from prosecution to anyone who gave information to the investigation.
The decision of the court is under seal, because of the proceeding in which the Justice Department subpoenaed the accused. He wouldn’t answer questions if he said he had Fifth Amendment protection.
As CNN has previously reported, Patel is one of a handful of advisers around Trump after his presidency who could have legal risk related to the Mar-a-Lago situation, according to court records and sources, though it’s unclear if he is a target of the Justice Department probe.
He served as a national security and defense official during the Trump administration, and this summer became one of Trump’s designees to interact with the National Archives and the Justice Department as both agencies have tried to repossess classified records Trump kept from his presidency. He has claimed in conservative media interviews he personally witnessed Trump declassifying records before he left the presidency, and has argued Trump should be able to release classified information.
At the same time as the Justice Department isexamining the security records of President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, there is still grand jury activity taking place in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
“In the days ahead, the committee will evaluate next steps in the litigation and regarding the former President’s noncompliance,” Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson and GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who serve as chair and vice chair of the committee respectively, said in a statement.
The committee has previously held witnesses in contempt of Congress for defying the panel’s subpoenas but has little ability to force compliance with the subpoena quickly through the courts.
Trump’s legal team had challenged subpoenas issued by special counsel Jack Smith demanding testimony and documents from Meadows, the former president’s White House chief of staff, as well as several others by asserting executive privilege.
“Given the timing and nature of your letter – without any acknowledgment that Mr. Trump will ultimately comply with the subpoena – your approach on his behalf appears to be a delay tactic,” Thompson wrote.
“The truth is that Donald Trump, like several of his closest allies, is hiding from the Select Committee’s investigation and refusing to do what more than a thousand other witnesses have done,” Thompson and Cheney wrote. Donald Trump tried to block the transfer of power. He is obligated to provide answers to the American people.”
A federal judge has asked former President Donald Trump’s attorneys to turn over the names of the individuals hired to search four properties for documents late last year, a source familiar with the order told CNN.
In a sealed decision released last week, the chief judge ruled that the Trump team could not claim privilege for the officials who were subpoenaed by Smith.
But the Justice Department is against making disclosures related to the grand jury investigations – and won’t even admit the proceedings are taking place.
Two people who found two classified documents in a Florida storage facility for Donald Trump have testified before a federal grand jury in Washington that’s looking at the former president’s handling of national security records at his Mar-a-Lago residence, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
Two people hired to look at four properties of Trump were interviewed for a number of hours in separate appearances last week.
They were hired to search Trump’s Bedminster golf club, Trump Tower in New York, an office location in Florida and a storage unit in Florida last October, months after the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. They did not decline to answer questions but the extent of information they gave the grand jury remained unclear, one of the sources said.
The Justice Department is trying to force more answers about the conversations between Trump and his attorney, Evan Corcoran, in a sealed case that was revealed Wednesday.
By pushing for access to computers, investigators are trying to determine if there is an electronic paper trail regarding the classified documents, another source said.
The situations for Biden and Pence have been vastly different. While they also highlight sloppiness around the tracking of classified papers, both Biden’s and Pence’s teams have readily handed them back to intelligence officials.
Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Mar-a-Lago Trial: Are There Further Investigations Into Donald Trump’s Prosecutor?
Jack Smith and prosecutors who work for him have used the grand jury to question witnesses in Mar-a-Lago investigations every week.
The DC Circuit judges also mention documents involved in the dispute, asking that Trump’s side “specify” them. The court order does not explain what happened to the documents. But Corcoran also was ordered to hand over a number of documents, including handwritten notes and notes transcribed of a verbal conversation.
According to one source, the prosecutors wrote to the judge accusing the president of using his attorney in furtherance of a crime or fraud.
The attorney testified before the grand jury for four hours, he was the third attorney to testify. He has not yet appeared a second time, and it remains to be seen if he ultimately does.
It was unclear on Tuesday whether the Justice Department has developed new evidence to argue there was criminal planning, or whether prosecutors are resting on the same arguments made when prosecutors sought a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago last year. At that time, they had cause to believe federal records were moved or concealed within the beach club, and they have been investigating both mishandling of national security records and obstruction of justice.
A Trump spokesperson said the move was “nothing more than a targeted, politically motivated witch hunt against President Trump, concocted to try and prevent the American people from returning him to the White House.”
Corcoran had drafted a statement in June that attested Trump’s team had done a “diligent search” and there were no more classified documents at Trump’s Florida residence.
The subpoena was issued by the office of the special counsel, which was headed by Jack Smith. An attorney did not answer when asked if they would comment.
The phone call between Trump and the Secretary of State of Georgia is well known, as is the White House meeting about election fraud claims. A site where an audit of Georgia’s election was underway was visited by Meadows and he sent an email to the Justice Department about allegations of fraud.
CNN has learned that special counsel Jack Smith has been in at least eight secret court battles that aim to uncover some of the most closely held details about Donald Trump’s actions after the 2020 election.
The outcome of these disputes could have far-reaching implications, as they revolve around a 2024 presidential candidate and could lead courts to shape the law around the presidency, separation of powers and attorney-client confidentiality in ways they’ve never done before.
A hallmark of Trump’s style in the face of investigations is the number of grand jury challenges from potential witnesses.
By comparison, Robert Mueller’s grand jury investigation into Trump had a smattering of sealed proceedings where investigators used the court to pry for more answers, and independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s Whitewater investigation ultimately totaled seven similar sealed cases.
About half a dozen cases are still ongoing in court, either before Chief Judge Beryl Howell or in the appeals court above her, the DC Circuit. The typical arcs of cases that come up during grand jury investigations include prosecutors using the court to enforce their subpoenas.
The Secret Grand Grand-Ductus: Why Donald Trump and the DOJ have the privilege to speak with him from the end of his presidency, and how to fight Smith’s probe
He stands by his decision to reject those calls for him to disturb Congress’ plans. But he also has announced his plans to fight the subpoena in Smith’s probe.
“I think we are in extraordinary times. Part of it is I think President Trump continues to assert these theories long after they’ve been batted away by the court,” Neil Eggleston, a former White House counsel who argued for executive privilege during the Clinton administration and the Whitewater investigation.
In the Whitewater case, witnesses shied away from giving testimony because of the court ruling that privilege wouldn’t hold up if a grand jury needed information. But in the Trump investigations, witnesses aligned continue to test whether he still may have special confidentiality protections.
An appeal over whether former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone and deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin could decline to answer questions about direct conversations with Trump from the end of his presidency. After court rulings in the fall, the two men had to appear again and give more answers, despite their various privileges, but CNN previously confirmed that they did. Though they have already testified twice, Trump’s team filed an appeal.
Following the seizure of Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Scott Perry’s cell phone in August in the January 6 investigation, lawyers for the congressman challenged the Justice Department’s ability to access data taken from the phone, citing protection around Congress under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. The DOJ has not been able to view the records yet because of an appeals court panel that made the decision to not keep the records. The case is set for oral arguments on February 23 at the appeals court in Washington. The circuit court also has a request from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press to unseal documents in the case.
The New York Times and Politico are trying to convince Howell to release redacted versions of any sealed court fights related to the grand jury where Trump or others in his administration have tried to limit the investigation with claims of executive privilege, according to court filings.
Clark tried to keep investigators from seeing a draft of his autobiography that discussed his efforts at the Justice Department on behalf of Trump. Clark had tried to mark the draft outline about his life as an attorney work product.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/politics/secret-grand-jury-special-counsel-trump/index.html
The Atlanta-based grand jury investigation into Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election: Why is the big name on the list?
The grand jury cases, which were filed by the special counsel, raised questions about how open the courts will be regarding these cases and when documents might become available.
On Monday, they argued to Howell that with the intense public interest around the cases, there should be even more secrecy than when the court releases other records.
The foreperson of the Atlanta-based grand jury that investigated former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election told CNN on Tuesday that the panel is recommending multiple indictments and suggested “the big name” may be on the list.
Emily KOHRS told CNN she couldn’t imagine doing this for eight months and not having a whole list of recommended indictments. It is more than a short list. It is not.
There may be some names on the list that you didn’t expect. I don’t think you will be shocked, the big name that everyone keeps asking me about.
Kohrs declined later Tuesday to disclose exactly how many indictments the special grand jury recommended be brought as part of the investigation, saying only that she believes it is more than 12.
I believe so because they asked whether the number of people was more than a dozen. That’s probably a good assumption.”
Grand jury investigation of the fact that Willis, a Democrat, is a witch hunt in Georgia, according to a CNN interview with Kohrs
The grand jury believed there was probable cause to file perjury charges for some witnesses. She told The New York Times that the grand jury recommended multiple indictments.
Trump, who has launched his 2024 campaign for the White House, denies any criminal wrongdoing. He has claimed that Willis, a Democrat, is politically biased, and still regularly promotes the false claim that he actually won the election in Georgia.
She said she had heard the president on the phone more than once. At least one more call by Trump to a Georgia state official was involved in the investigation, according to CNN.
Despite Trump’s claims that the prosecutors are liberal zealots on a “witch hunt,” Kohrs said she believed Willis and her team acted in a non-partisan fashion and tried to keep the proceedings fair.
In the phone interview, she stated that she didn’t believe there was bias in the team. “I know for a fact that they were always very worried about accidentally coloring our opinions one way or the other … They told us that they didn’t want any of their opinions to affect any of our opinions, or any of their additional knowledge to affect our knowledge.”
“Personally, I hope to see her take almost any kind of decisive action, to actually do something,” Kohrs said. “There are too many times in recent history that seem to me like someone has gotten called out for something that people had a problem with, and nothing ever happens.”
How frequently does it happen? I’d like to see something happen. Don’t make me take back my faith in the system,” Kohrs said. If this whole thing just disappears, I wouldn’t be happy with that at this point. That is the only thing that would make me sad.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/21/politics/fulton-county-trump-grand-jury-foreperson-ebof/index.html
CNN Meets Michael Flynn, a foreperson who was there to support the investigation into the attempted interference in the 2020 presidential election
The foreperson also told CNN that she was “pleasantly surprised” by the friendliness of some witnesses, including key Trump insiders like former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, even though he invoked privilege and declined to answer some questions.
Some people fought not to be there but once they were there, they were willing to have a conversation and I respect that. “Flynn was honestly very nice in person. He was a very nice man. He was intriguing. But I don’t recall him saying anything earth-shattering.”
CNN has learned that Donald Trump wants a federal court to stop former Vice President Mike Pence from telling a grand jury about certain matters under executive privilege, in order to stop the criminal investigation into the attempted interference in the 2020 election.
It is unclear how long it will take for the sealed proceedings to unfold, but it’s possible that the district court resolves the dispute, or that it will be appealed to a federal appeals court and perhaps, eventually, to the US Supreme Court.
Since taking over the DOJ investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Smith, who has a reputation for moving quickly, has accelerated the probe’s pace.
In the lead-up to the congressional certification vote, Pence faced enormous pressure from Trump and his allies to disrupt lawmakers’ plans to validate Joe Biden’s win. As the Senate’s president, Pence had to preside over the proceedings.
The former vice president asserts that because he was also acting as president of the Senate that day, he is shielded by the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which protects lawmakers from certain law enforcement actions targeted at their legislative conduct.
Sources told CNN that Evan Corcoran’s lawyers did not have immunity from prosecution because they were able to show the legal services were used in furtherance of a crime.
The documents case hasn’t been charged but Trump is still being investigated by a grand jury. One source said that prosecutors used video evidence in arguing their case.
The judges of the DC Circuit asked for more information and arguments by early Wednesday morning along with a deadline for Trump and his team to respond by 6 a.m.
An increasingly circus-like atmosphere in Washington, New York and Florida, where Trump now lives, is making the drama around the various cases even more tense and confusing – and, to some extent, taking the focus away from what may be a moment of dubious history. And a mounting partisan uproar led by House Republicans, meanwhile, appears designed to blur the facts, distract from the evidence and fuel Trump’s claim he’s the victim of an endless political vendetta.
Norm Eisen said that the piercing of this bedrock legal protection was atypical and an ill omen for Trump, since he could be used to suggest he committed a crime. This could involve not just the mishandling of classified documents but also possible obstruction of justice. “It considerably worsens what was probably Trump’s most federal legal peril,” Eisen told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room” on Wednesday.
Cohen’s conviction for lying to Congress is seen as a weakness in any trial since his credibility could be damaged. CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams explained that Bragg would have to test the question of Cohen’s trustworthiness now before a grand jury or at trial. “It’s very much in their interests, to take a beat, step back and decide,” he said. It happens often as prosecutors decide whether or not to bring cases.
The political drama that could arise from Trump’s potential biggest competitor in the Republican primary deciding to twist the knife, as well as other potential GOP White House hopefuls rushing to support him, were both highlighted this week. During an interview, he implied that if he wins the Oval Office, he would be far more disciplined than Donald Trump was during his four years as president. “No daily drama, focus on the big picture, and put points on the board,” DeSantis told Piers Morgan on TalkTV, just as news of Trump’s legal woes was reminding Americans of the daily drama he served up for four years.
One advisor to the governor told CNN that he couldn’t afford to be marginalized from the get go. “He clearly made the calculus it was time to push back.”
DeSantis is not the only Republican seeking a political opening. The grassroots voters who helped Trump win the election sent their Republican allies to Washington and they unleashed an extraordinary assault on the Manhattan District Attorney. They use the power of government to try to keep him away from being held to account and to defusing his legal threats. GOP House committee chairs have been demanding Bragg’s testimony and vow to find out if his probe used any federal funds.
There is no factual or legal basis for the case against President Trump. The deranged Democrats and their comrades in the mainstream media are corrupting the legal process and weaponizing the justice system in order to manipulate public opinion, because they are clearly losing the political battle.”
