Fani Willis, the District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia inside her office chambers within the Fulton County Justice Center Tower in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday, September 20, 2022.
David Walter Banks | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Grand juries that were seated in Atlanta on Tuesday could soon determine whether to charge former President Donald Trump and his allies over their efforts to overturn his loss in Georgia’s 2020 election.
The criminal investigation into potential election interference began two-and-a-half-years earlier, shortly after a recording leaked of a phone call through which Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory within the Peach State.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, the prosecutor who has led the probe, said she is going to announce her charging decisions this summer throughout the period starting Tuesday and ending Sept. 1. Willis further indicated that indictments could are available in August: In a letter to court officials, she asked that trials and in-person hearings not be scheduled between July 31 and Aug. 18.
The 2 grand juries empaneled Tuesday in Fulton County Superior Court will sit for a two-month term. Judge Robert McBurney presided over the choice process.
Willis could use either, or each, of the grand juries to hunt charges in her criminal probe, NBC News reported. If she does, the grand jury members could have to vote to return indictments.
Each panel is made up of 23 people and three alternates. The primary includes a good split of men and ladies, while the second comprises 14 men and 12 women, NBC reported. Each grand jury will meet twice every week throughout the term to listen to quite a few cases and judge whether to return a “true bill” of indictment or issue a “no bill” and drop the case.
Willis had previously presented evidence within the election probe to a special grand jury that sat for seven months and ultimately advisable charging multiple individuals with crimes. The forewoman of that panel told The Latest York Times that “it isn’t rocket science” who those individuals are.
The special grand jury didn’t have the ability to indict, and Willis isn’t required to follow its recommendations.
Following his loss to Biden, Trump and his allies spent weeks working to reverse the leads to key swing states, including Georgia, that had voted for the Democratic nominee. Amongst those efforts were bids by Republicans to submit certificates falsely declaring that Trump had won their states’ electoral votes. Willis in a court filing in May revealed that not less than eight of Georgia’s fake electors have been granted immunity in her probe.
If he’s charged in Georgia, Trump will likely be facing criminal prosecution in three separate cases as he runs for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Since launching his latest White House bid, Trump has been charged in Manhattan with falsifying business records and was hit with federal charges over his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
He has pleaded not guilty in each cases, and currently boasts a large lead in Republican presidential primary polls.
