Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign stop to unveil his leadership team, on the South Carolina State House in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S., January 28, 2023.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
A Georgia grand jury looking into possible election meddling by former President Donald Trump said “a number of witnesses” can have lied under oath and urged prosecutors to pursue criminal indictments in those cases.
The special grand jury also found no significant fraud in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election won by President Joe Biden, in keeping with portions of the ultimate report on its monthslong investigation unsealed Thursday.
The grand jury was impaneled in May to research whether Trump, his lawyers and political allies committed any crimes in pressuring state officials to overturn the election in his favor, but Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney withheld those conclusions until prosecutors are able to release the total report at a later time.
The panel was taking a look at, amongst other things, a Jan. 2, 2021, call through which Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes,” which is what the previous president would have needed to win the state and its 16 Electoral College votes.
Raffensperger refused to comply with Trump’s request.
Trump’s campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, said in a press release to NBC News that the previous president “did absolutely nothing fallacious.” He added, “The President participated in two perfect phone calls regarding election integrity in Georgia, which he’s entitled to do.”
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will determine whether to charge Trump or anyone else within the case.
Within the few pages that were unsealed Thursday, the grand jury said it received evidence involving greater than 75 witnesses, most of which was delivered in person and under oath.
The report noted that the panel’s extensive witness list included poll employees, investigators, technical experts and state officials, in addition to “individuals still claiming that such fraud took place.”
“A majority of the Grand Jury believes that perjury can have been committed by a number of witnesses testifying before it,” the report said. “The Grand Jury recommends that the District Attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.”
The grand jury voted unanimously in concluding that “no widespread fraud took place within the Georgia 2020 presidential election that would lead to overturning that election,” in keeping with the report.
The grand jury had 23 members and three alternates.
The Fulton County court in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023.
Dustin Chambers | Bloomberg | Getty Images
McBurney on Monday approved the disclosure of three portions of the ultimate report because they don’t discover any witnesses.
But he decided that disclosure of your complete report “presently will not be proper,” citing due process concerns.
Georgia was certainly one of several key swing states that gave Democratic nominee Biden his margin of victory within the Electoral College over Republican Trump.
Trump after Election Day falsely claimed that he had won the favored election each nationally and within the swing states, arguing that he was denied victory within the Electoral College due to widespread ballot fraud. He said the election had been “rigged” against him, citing a plethora of unfounded conspiracy theories.
Multiple lawsuits filed in late 2020 by Trump’s campaign searching for to overturn state election results were almost entirely rejected within the courts.
After Raffensperger, who’s Georgia’s top election official, refused Trump’s request to search out him enough votes to reverse his loss, the stage was set for Congress to substantiate the outcomes of the Electoral College on Jan. 6, 2021.
But on that day, a violent crowd of Trump’s supporters, spurred by his false election claims, invaded the U.S. Capitol, causing lawmakers to flee for safety. Hours later, after the mob left the complex, a joint session of Congress confirmed Biden’s victory within the election.
Trump was impeached within the House on a charge of fomenting the riot, but later was acquitted within the Senate.
Willis, the Fulton County DA, in February 2021 opened a criminal investigation into Trump’s call to Raffensperger.