ATLANA (AP) – A special grand jury was selected on Monday to investigate whether former President Donald Trump and others tried to illegally influence the 2020 elections in Georgia.
The investigation has been ongoing since early last year, and Fulton County Attorney Fanny Willis took the unusual step by asking a special grand jury to help. She noted in a letter to the chief judge that the special grand jury will be able to issue summonses to people who have refused to cooperate in any other way.
The chief judge ordered the special grand jury to meet for up to a year, starting Monday. From the group of about 200 people summoned from the list of the district chief jury, 26 were chosen to serve – 23 grand jurors and three deputies. The special grand juries focus on investigating a topic and making recommendations to the district attorney, who then decides whether to request an indictment from a regular grand jury.
Due to the great public interest in the case, the court arranged for parts of the selection process to be broadcast live on Monday. Now that the special grand jury has been selected, however, everything it does will happen in secret.
Fulton County High Court Judge Robert McBurney, who is tasked with overseeing the special grand jury, told the people summoned to the court that they would not hear a trial but would instead serve a special investigative grand jury to consider general elections in 2020
“Now is the time for 26 members of our community to participate in this investigation,” McBurney said.
Willis confirmed that her team was investigating a phone call in January 2021 in which Trump forced Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Rafensperger to “find” the votes he needed to win the state. She also said they were considering a November 2020 phone call between U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and Rafensperger, the sudden resignation of a U.S. prosecutor in Atlanta on January 4, 2021, and comments made during the Georgia Legislative Committee hearing in December 2020. elections.
It is unclear exactly what charges Willis could choose against Trump or anyone else. In a letter to senior government officials last year, she said she was investigating “potential violations of Georgian law banning incitement to electoral fraud, making false statements to state and local governments, conspiracy, racketeering, violating oaths and any participation in violence or threats related to the administration of the election. “
McBurney said the grand jurors will not meet before June and will not meet every week. They will be notified in advance when they need to be there and there is little room to move if they cannot reach each session, as only 16 are needed for a quorum, he said.
McBurney then led the 200 potential jurors to take an oath to give truthful answers about their qualifications.
He explained that the grand jurors must be at least 18 years old, must be US citizens and must have lived in Fulton County for the past six months. Anyone who has been elected or has been in the past two years, anyone convicted of a crime, or anyone who has served on a Fulton County jury or grand jury in the past year is not qualified to serve, McBurney said.
The investigation includes actions related to the 2020 general elections, and it is important that the grand jurors “bring an open opinion to the process,” the judge said. Anyone who is already convinced that a crime has happened or not should say there is a conflict when asked, McBurney said.
After identifying other potential conflicts – such as plans to stay out of the country for a long time, having to take care of someone after a major operation – McBurney went through the first 100 potential jurors and asked them individually – addressing them only by number – to say if they have a conflict. A quarter of the grand jurors said they had a conflict, and judges and prosecutors began questioning them in private to determine if they could be acquitted. He then closed the courtroom so that he and prosecutors could talk to the elected officials in private.
While the district attorney’s office will generally lead the investigation, the grand jurors will be able to question witnesses who appear before them. If they believe that there are other witnesses they would like to hear or documents they would like to see, they have the right to issue subpoenas.
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