Fulton County
District Attorney
Fani Willis is
requesting a special
grand jury to aid in
her investigation of
former President
Donald Trump and his
efforts to overturn
Georgia’s 2020
election results.
(Alyssa Pointer/The
Atlanta
Journal-Constitution)
Former
U.S.
president
Donald
Trump is
shown at
a rally
in
Florence,
Ariz.,
on
Saturday.
The
Fulton
County
District
Attorney
in
Georgia
has
asked
for a
special
grand
jury to
aid the
investigation
into
whether
Trump
and
others
attempted
to
interfere
in the
2020
U.S.
election.
(Carlos
Barria/Reuters)
Georgia
prosecutor
requests
special
grand
jury in
probe of
Trump’s
efforts
to
overturn
state’s
election
results By
John
Wagner
washingtonpost.com
ATLANTA
- The
Atlanta-area
prosecutor
weighing
whether
former
president
Donald
Trump
and
others
committed
crimes
by
trying
to
pressure
Georgia
election
officials
has
requested
a
special
purpose
grand
jury to
aid in
her
investigation.
In a
letter
Thursday,
Fulton
County
District
Attorney
Fani
Willis
(D) told
the
chief
judge of
Fulton
County’s
Superior
Court
that the
move was
needed
because
a
“significant
number
of
witnesses
and
prospective
witnesses
have
refused
to
cooperate
with the
investigation
absent a
subpoena
requiring
their
testimony.”
Willis
cited
Georgia
Secretary
of State
Brad
Raffensperger
(R) as
an
example.
Willis
has
previously
confirmed
that
part of
her
probe
centers
on the
Jan. 2,
2021,
phone
call
between
Trump
and
Raffensperger
in which
Trump
asked
Raffensperger
to
“find”
enough
votes to
overturn
Joe
Biden’s
win in
the
state’s
presidential
election.
Willis
launched
the
criminal
probe in
February.
At the
time, a
Trump
spokesman
dismissed
the
investigation,
calling
it “the
Democrats’
latest
attempt
to score
political
points
by
continuing
their
witch
hunt
against
President
Trump.”
Trump
responded
on
Thursday,
saying
in a
statement
that “I
didn’t
say
anything
wrong in
the
call”
and
repeating
his
false
claims
of
widespread
voter
fraud.
“What
this
Civil
Special
Grand
Jury
should
be
looking
into is
not my
perfect
phone
call,
but the
large
scale
voter
fraud
that
took
place in
Georgia,”
he said.
“Then
they
would be
doing a
great
job for
the
people.”
After
falsely
saying
he won
the
election,
then-President
Donald
Trump on
Dec. 23
urged a
top
investigator
in
Georgia's
mail-in
ballot
audit to
find
wrongdoing.
(The
Washington
Post)
In
her
letter
to
Christopher
S.
Brasher,
chief
judge of
Fulton
County’s
Superior
Court,
Willis
cited
several
advantages
to
impaneling
a rarely
used
special
purpose
grand
jury.
Among
them: It
could
sit for
a longer
period
of time
than a
normal
grand
jury and
it would
focus
solely
on the
matter
at hand,
which
she
called
“appropriate
to the
complexity
of the
facts
and
circumstances
involved.”
Willis
noted
that the
type of
grand
jury she
is
requesting
would
not have
the
authority
to
return
an
indictment
but
could
make
recommendations
concerning
criminal
prosecutions.
In
an
interview
earlier
this
month
with the
Associated
Press,
Willis
said
that her
team was
making
solid
progress
in its
investigation.
“I
believe
in 2022
a
decision
will be
made in
that
case,”
Willis
said. “I
certainly
think
that in
the
first
half of
the year
that
decisions
will be
made.”
In
her
letter
Thursday,
Willis
called
Raffensperger
“an
essential
witness
to the
investigation”
and said
he “has
indicated
that he
will not
participate
in an
interview
or
otherwise
offer
evidence
until he
is
presented
with a
subpoena.”
Willis
pointed
to
comments
Raffensperger
made
during
an
October
interview
with
Chuck
Todd,
host of
NBC’s
“Meet
the
Press.”
“If
she
wants to
interview
me,
there’s
a
process
for
that,
and I
will
gladly
participate
in that
because
I want
to make
sure
that I
follow
the law,
follow
the
Constitution,”
Raffensperger
told
Todd.
“And
when you
get a
grand
jury
summons,
you
respond
to it.”
At
one
point
during
his call
with
Raffensperger,
Trump
told
him:
“All I
want to
do is
this. I
just
want to
find
11,780
votes,
which is
one more
than we
have.
Because
we won
the
state.”
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