A panel of Superior Court judges approved Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ request to seat a special grand jury, which will consider whether former president Donald Trump broke any laws when he pressured the Georgia secretary of state to change the vote results.
The special grand jury will be impaneled on May 2 and can continue for a period “not to exceed 12 months,” Christopher Brasher, chief judge of Fulton County Superior Court, wrote in an order.
“The special purpose grand jury shall be authorized to investigate any and all facts and circumstances relating directly or indirectly to alleged violations of the laws of the State of Georgia,” Brasher wrote in the order. “The special purpose grand jury … may make recommendations concerning criminal prosecution as it shall see fit.”
In a letter last week, Willis told the chief judge the special grand jury 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 used Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as an example.
Willis previously confirmed that part of her investigation centers on the Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which Trump asked the Georgia Secretary of State to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state’s presidential election.
Trump defended his call with Raffensperger, saying in a statement, “I didn’t say anything wrong in the call” and repeating his false claims of widespread voter fraud.
Trump has lied relentlessly while baselessly alleging that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
More than a year after leaving the White House, Trump continues to claim without evidence that he is the rightful winner of the 2020 election.
More than 60 courts, the election officials responsible for voting in all 50 states and dozens of independent analysts confirmed that there was no widespread fraud that could change the outcome of the presidential race.
After a tense four days of vote-counting in battleground states, Joe Biden clearly defeated Trump by more than 8 million ballots nationally and the Democrat clinched 306 electoral votes to the Republican’s 232, which is more than the 270 needed to become president.
The disgraced former president focused much of his attention after the election on Georgia, the state where Biden became the first Democrat to win since 1992.
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.”
Earlier this month, 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.”
“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 Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s Meet the Press during an October interview. “And when you get a grand jury summons, you respond to it.”
Special grand juries have the power to subpoena witnesses and gather documents, though they cannot return indictments. In her letter to Brasher last week, Willis noted that some witnesses have so far refused to comply with her investigation without a subpoena.