Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney was sworn in before potential jurors on May 2, 2022, as he sat on the special grand jury chair to consider the actions of former President Donald Trump and his allies who tried to overturn the 2020 election.
Gray Wharf/AP
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Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney was sworn in before potential jurors on May 2, 2022, as he sat on the special grand jury chair to consider the actions of former President Donald Trump and his allies who tried to overturn the 2020 election.
Gray Wharf/AP
The final recommendations of a special grand jury investigating efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election will be largely kept secret, a judge has ruled.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in an eight-page order announced Monday that there are due process concerns for people the report names potentially violating state law, but he found that the three sections don’t mention specifics. could be announced later this week, on Thursday.
“These three sections include the introduction and conclusion of the final report, as well as Part VIII, in which a special-purpose grand jury discussed their concerns that certain witnesses may have under oath in their testimony before the grand jury,” McBurney wrote. “Because the grand jury failed to identify those witnesses, that conclusion can be revealed publicly at this time.”
Monday’s decision comes after a January 24 hearing where the District Attorney’s office Fani Willis argued against publishing the report and a consortium of media said it should be published. without editing.
McBurney’s order was a minor compromise, writing that some parts of the report should be shared with the public while others deserve to be kept secret until prosecutors take further action.
“After reviewing the final report, the undersigned concludes that the special purpose grand jury did not exceed the scope of its mandate,” the order read. “Indeed, it provided the District Attorney exactly what she asked for: a list of who should (or should not) be prosecuted, and for what, in relation to the conduct (and consequences). ) of the 2020 Georgia general election.”
A grand jury has a special purpose to be empowered last year to investigate potential crimes stemming from former President Donald Trump and his allies’ failed efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat in Georgia.
Unlike conventional grand juries, which meet for much more limited time and review many cases, this rarely used body spent about eight months interviewing more than 70 witnesses and gathering evidence. evidence, although the agency does not have the authority to bring charges.
Instead, the special grand jury wrote a final report with recommendations to the district attorney’s office for how to proceed, including possible violations of state law — although Willis doesn’t have to follow those recommendations if she decides to seek indictment from a regular grand jury.
Jur status.
McBurney found that the uniqueness of the special-purpose grand jury led him to make the decision “not so simple”, calling the investigation “completely fitting as a one-way poll”. , which means it wouldn’t be fair if that investigation was made public. of a court setting if and when the indictment is issued.
During the January 24 hearing, Willis and her staff objected to the release of the report at this time to protect the rights of those who may be prosecuted later.
“We have to be mindful of protecting the rights of future defendants,” Willis said. “We want to make sure that everyone is treated fairly and we think future defendants will be treated fairly, so it is not appropriate to release this report at this time.”
Although the work of the special grand jury was largely conducted behind closed doors, relevant public court filings have offered clues as to the potential targets of the investigation that may have been violate the law. Those details include:
- Several phone calls to top Georgia officials, including Trump’s infamous call to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, are seeking to “find” votes to change the outcome.
- A pair of informal legislative hearings where members of Trump’s campaign legal team, led by Rudy Giuliani, told Georgia lawmakers they could pick a group of general electors. “alternative” system by highlighting many false allegations of election fraud.
- The attempt to recruit and implement an “alternative” group of Republican presidential electors met in the state capital and sent documents posing as official electors to Washington, DC, including including the role of Georgia Republican Chairman David Shafer.
Willis has so far remained tight-lipped about potential charges, other than telling the court that “decisions are imminent.” At least 17 people have been told they could be targeted by the investigation, including Giuliani, Shafer and the rest of the fake electors, although the DA was stripped of its authority by Judge McBurney to investigate Lt. New Governor Burt Jones for conflicts of interest.
It is unclear what role Trump himself would play, if any, in the report or in potential indictments. The former president was not required to voluntarily testify before a grand jury for special purposes nor to issue a subpoena, and his Georgia attorneys issued a statement ahead of the hearing. found that the lack of those requirements led them to assume that the grand jury found no wrongdoing.
Even if the special grand jury doesn’t consider any potential violations of the law by the former president, and even if Willis refuses to pursue charges, there are still many other questions Trump has to ask. faces at the start of his third run for the White House, including federal investigations into mishandling of classified documents, an investigation into the January 6 riots on the Capitol United States and two New York investigations into his business empire.
