Fulton County DA to begin selecting special grand jury in Trump election tampering case on May 2

Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis will begin selection of a special grand jury on May 2 to hear testimony about whether former President Donald Trump tried to illegally overturn the election results in Georgia in 2020, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reported.

Willis told the newspaper that the special grand jury won’t hear testimony from witnesses until June 1. The reason for the delay, Willis said, was because she wanted to wait until after the May 24 primaries in the state—to avoid the perception that her actions are politically motivated. But Republicans can be expected to allege such motives, whatever Willis does.

Willis said the nearly month-long gap would give grand jurors a chance to approve subpoenas for reluctant witnesses, and for the Atlanta-area district attorney’s office to serve the subpoena documents.

“I don’t want anyone to say ‘oh, she’s doing this because she wants to influence the outcome of this upcoming election,’” Willis told the newspaper. “The people will decide the outcome of this upcoming election. It will have nothing to do with this district attorney’s office.”

Among potential witnesses are Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Gov. Brian Kemp, and Attorney General Chris Carr, who are all on the May primary ballot. All three are targeted by Donald Trump-endorsed challengers, for their roles in certifying Joe Biden’s narrow victory in the state in the 2020 presidential election.

Raffensperger was the recipient of Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021 phone call requesting that he “find” enough votes to reverse the ex-president’s Georgia defeat. Kemp and Carr also received calls from Trump following the November 2020 election.

Recent polling has shown that Raffensperger, and possibly Kemp, may be forced into primary runoffs on June 21, which might delay their testimony, the AJC reported.

The special grand jury is authorized to meet until spring 2023, unless it wraps up its work earlier. So June could be a pivotal month in efforts to hold Trump accountable for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The House Jan. 6 committee has indicated that it could start its public hearings in May and they would likely continue into June.

RELATED: Fani Willis: ‘I am conducting a criminal investigation of former President Donald J. Trump’

Willis launched her probe 14 months ago, putting together a team of 10 prosecutors and investigators. In January 2022, WIllis was granted permission by Fulton County Superior Court judges to seat a special grand jury to assist in her investigation. Willis made the request because a significant number of witnesses had refused to cooperate with her investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.

The special grand jury can compel reluctant witnesses to testify because of that subpoena power. It can also maintain focus on the Trump investigation, and serve a term longer than that of a typical grand jury. It lacks the authority to return an indictment, but it may make recommendations concerning criminal prosecutions. Then it would be up to a regular grand jury to issue indictments.

In a request that same month to the FBI for security assistance, Willis said that she is “conducting a criminal investigation of former President Donald J. Trump” and his associates regarding alleged attempts to improperly influence the administration of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.

At least 50 people have voluntarily testified before prosecutors, and subpoenas could be sought for at least 30 others who had previously declined to be interviewed, the newspaper reported. Willis added that there are another 60 or so people her team is hoping to interview in the weeks ahead. Willis told the AJC that she’d ordered bulletproof vests for her team, and also increased security, because of multiple threats tied to the Trump investigation as well as unrelated gang cases.

Among the Trump associates who could be potential targets of Willis’ investigation are his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark, and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. All of them reportedly had contact with Georgia election officials and/or state legislators aimed at overturning the election results.

Willis’ team is also looking at the sudden resignation of the Atlanta-based U.S. Attorney Bjay Pak, a telephone call Graham made to Raffensperger, and false claims made by Giuliani at a hearing before the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee.

Willis has said her office was looking into such potential violations of Georgia law as criminal solicitation to commit election fraud, intentional interference with the performance of election duties, conspiracy, and racketeering. The jury’s still out, however, as to whether this investigation will result to indictments against Trump and his associates given that so far, Trump has managed to avoid being held responsible for his crimes … for decades.