What to know about the grand jury report regarding the 2020 election and President Trump

Why shouldn’t we have to wait until the Supreme Court order so we can decide the outcome? A comment by Mark D. Cunningham

Clark D. Cunningham stated that the Supreme Court order would allow Mr. Graham to continue his delaying tactic by objecting to specific questions from the grand jury and seeking a court ruling.

However, he added, those objections may have to be hashed out in open court — a risk for the senator, Mr. Cunningham said, “because it may disclose to public view both the topics the grand jury is exploring and his unwillingness to answer such questions.”

Questions about Georgia are complicated by the fact that Thursday’s excerpts came from a grand jury report that was only partially released. It is defined as a document with one-sidedness since witnesses don’t testify alongside counsel or have a chance to rebut accusations. The report was not released to make sure the rights of those who may or may not end up facing charges were not prejudiced. The recommendations for perjury prosecutions, which are non-binding, represent a small step forward in the debate over whether there will be criminal accountability for an attempt to subvert democracy or to cover it up.

The information in the public realm is not good. On Jan. 2, 2021, Trump spoke with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and told him to “find” the votes he needed to win. He suggested that Raffensperger could face criminal charges if he did not work for Trump. “The ballots are corrupt,” Trump told Raffensperger on their phone call. You know what they did and you don’t report it, so it’s more illegal for you than it is for them. That’s a criminal, that’s a criminal offense. You can not allow that to happen. That risk to you and Ryan is huge. That is a big risk.

In recent months, a number of high-profile allies of Mr. Trump have been waging battles in courtrooms around the nation, arguing that they should not have to participate. So far, their track record has been mixed.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney Ordered a Public Release of the Special Grand Jury’s Report on a Democratic Presidential Candidate

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ordered the limited release earlier this week, writing in his order that the report’s introduction and conclusion, as well as concerns the grand jury panel had about witnesses lying under oath, will be made public.

The big question is whether the portions include any information that will shed new light on what happened when Trump was president and if the grand jury concluded that he committed any crimes.

Trump lost to Joe Biden in Georgia by nearly 12,000 votes in 2020. The former president insisted that his activities in the campaign were not problematic.

Willis’ investigations started in early 2021, soon after a January call became public in which Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, to “find” the votes necessary for Trump to win the Peach State in the presidential election.

Cunningham added to CNN that “there is no doubt that whatever (the report is) referring to is either conduct that was done directly by Donald Trump or done on his behalf.”

“That would tell us that this cross section of citizens, having spent nine months working hard at this, has concluded that at least some of what was done on behalf of the former president to overturn the election results was a crime,” he said. “I think that’s terrifically significant.”

The grand jury “received evidence from or involving 75 witnesses during the course of this investigation, the overwhelming majority of which information was delivered in person under oath.” But jurors clearly weren’t satisfied.

The pages released Thursday do not name any witnesses alongside that recommendation and do not provide any other details about the witness testimony the special grand jury heard.

The Fulton County Grand Jury Investigates Deeply Inelastic Attempts to Shock a Candidate: U.S. Senator Mark R. McConale and the Investigation of the 2024 White House

The final report is likely to include a summary of the panel’s investigative work, as well as any recommendations for indictments and the alleged conduct that led the panel to its conclusions.

There were no widespread fraud in the Georgia 2020 election that could cause it to be tossed out, according to a unanimous vote.

Some of the witnesses are going to be nervous after the developments on Thursday. The glimpse into a few of the grand jury’s conclusions left outsiders with questions about whether the exposure of Trump and his associates had worsened in light of new information. Also up in the air is how it would weigh on the mind of Willis as she considers decisions that could have a huge impact given the involvement of a former president who is an already declared candidate in the 2024 White House race.

According to parts of the report released Thursday, perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses. “The Grand Jury recommends that the District Attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.”

Whether Willis concludes the same thing and if there is evidence sufficient to make indictments or to win a such a critical case is not yet clear. There may be an answer soon.

The most pressing question regarding the Fulton County investigation is whether Trump will be indicted. The excerpts of the report that came out Thursday didn’t move the ball forward in answering that question. Trump’s name – or the name of any subject of the investigation or witness – wasn’t mentioned.

The implications of Willis’ decisions couldn’t be higher. The 2024 presidential campaign is already kicking into gear, and Willis’ decision on charging Trump could potentially scramble the Republican primary field.

In his statement, the ex-president said that President Trump has a Constitutional responsibility to ensure election safety, security and integrity.

The 2016 Fulton County Grand Jury: How My Generation Got Left Behind, and What They Have Learned About The Trump-Betweening of the 2020 Election

The grand jury examined physical and digital evidence, as well as testimony from investigators and the input of a team of assistant district attorneys who outlined for them the applicable statutes and procedures.

The majority of the Grand Jury used their best efforts to attend every session and listen to every witness, trying to understand the laws and facts as they were written, excerpts said.

Totaling just nine pages – three of which contained no substantive information – the portions released Thursday were short and didn’t provide extensive information on the investigation’s findings.

The author of the book : “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind” is a journalist based in New York. Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely her own. View more opinion on CNN.

It’s time for former President Donald Trump and his associates to face the consequences of creating and perpetuating the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. And it’s time for his supporters to re-enter the reality-based community and see the truth.

He said that you must not let it happen and that you are letting it happen. I am letting you know that it is going to happen. So look. I want to do this all. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.”

Trump campaign officials and other allies also cooked up a seven-state scheme to create fake groups of Electoral College delegates who would circumvent the real election results and instead cast their votes for Trump.

This conclusion seems unlikely to sway any of Trump’s hardcore base, who have proven themselves to be largely unswayable. But it could influence a Republican Party in turmoil, divided over everything from their anti-abortion strategy to who should lead their party’s ticket in 2024. Many Republicans want to move beyond Trump, with his bigotry and constant drama and hucksters. Many Republicans are afraid of the loud and stubborn Trump base.

They should take a page from this special grand jury’s book. It seems highly unlikely that every member of this jury was a liberal Democrat. While Biden won 76.2% of the vote in Fulton County in 2020, there were surely Trump supporters and people who usually vote for Republicans among the jurors. The voters were able to ignore their partisan feelings, realize their task and hold onto their power, and behave accordingly. They made recommendations that were based on the evidence they received and not based on partisan interests. They weren’t tasked with determining guilt or innocence, but rather with assessing whether the evidence before them supported bringing any criminal charges.

They were asked if the former president may have used his power to create an attack on the democratic process or if he was telling the truth when he said the election was stolen.

They found that there was no evidence of widespread fraud and there should be at least some criminal charges brought.

That’s a much nobler conclusion than the one we’ve seen from members of the GOP, many of whom have largely opposed any efforts to determine responsibility for election-fraud lies, and have instead often doubled down on those lies.

Even after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol shocked the nation and left several dead, Republicans have mostly opposed efforts to determine what exactly happened and how.

If average people selected for a special grand jury can complete this task with honesty and integrity, surely it’s not asking too much for Republican officeholders to approach their roles with similar gravity: To declare that the election was free and fair, and to ask that those who may have broken the law or lied be held accountable.

criminal charges are in the hands of prosecutors The future of the Republican Party is in its own hands. They can move forward by telling the truth, seeking accountability, and trying to regain some integrity. The disgraced President Trump can help them move forward.

It is not clear whether any indictments for perjury or anything else would involve Trump or those close to him. The ex-president did not testify before the special grand jury. And Trump maintains he did nothing wrong.

The grand jury heard from notable people including the Trump lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and the White House chief of staff MarkMeadows. The South Carolina senator told CNN that he had confidence in his testimony.

Legal analysts have concluded that the atmosphere of the case and the signals being sent by William will cause some indictments, though charges do not mean that someone will be guilty at trial.

“I am convinced there will be indictments, either for perjury or for other crimes,” Thomas Dupree, a former deputy assistant attorney general in ex-President George W. Bush’s administration, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday.

Norm Eisen, a former diplomat and legal and ethics expert, told CNN on Thursday that the conclusion could be an important building block in a case against Trump. The finding “goes right to the core of what Donald Trump has been claiming happened in Georgia. Eisen said on CNN’s Newsroom that it repudiates him.

It establishes that you could not bring charges on election fraud if you didn’t have this kind of conclusion. This is another nail in the coffin that was already full of them.”

Still, Alberto Gonzales, who served as attorney general in the Bush administration, cautioned that it would be wrong to get “terribly excited” by Thursday’s events in Georgia or to over-interpret them.

Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was far from perfect, of course, as he pressured the Republican official to change the vote counts for the election to allow him to overtake Biden in the key swing state.

According to Georgia law, if someone requests, commands or tries to cause the other person to engage in election fraud, a felony has been committed. The report’s authors consider that evidence suggests that Trump committed such acts several times between Election Day, 2020 and January 6, 2021, when Congress’ certification of the election was temporarily delayed by the Capitol insurrection.