A Georgia grand jury recommended criminal charges against three Republican U.S. senators and other allies of Donald Trump as part of its investigation into efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 presidential defeat, according to a report released on Friday. The special grand jury recommended charging Georgia’s two senators at the time, Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, as well as Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Michael Flynn, the report showed. The Associated Press has the story:
GA grand jury recommended charges against Graham, Flynn
Newslooks- ATLANTA (AP)
A special grand jury that aided a Georgia election subversion probe that ultimately ended up indicting Donald Trump and 18 others had recommended charging many more people, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, two former senators from Georgia and Michael Flynn, according to a report released Friday.
The special grand jury recommended charges against 39 people, although only 19 were indicted.
Parts of the report had been released in February, but a judge had delayed the release of any recommendations for specific charges against specific people until after last month’s indictment. While most of the intrigue in the inner workings of the case has diminished with the filing of charges, it is notable that the special grand jury recommended many people who were not actually indicted. They include Graham, former Georgia U.S. Sen.s Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Graham did not immediately return messages seeking comment on Friday.
The panel spent seven months hearing from some 75 witnesses before completing a report in December with recommendations for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on charges related to attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Willis had said she needed the panel’s subpoena power to compel the testimony of witnesses who might otherwise not have been willing to appear.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ordered the partial release of the report in February but declined to immediately release the panel’s recommendations on who should or should not be prosecuted. The judge said at the time that he wanted to protect people’s due process rights.
McBurney said in a new order filed Aug. 28 that the due process concerns were moot since a regular grand jury has indicted Trump and 18 other people under the state’s anti-racketeering law. All have pleaded not guilty.
Many of those indicted — including former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows — are known to have testified before the special grand jury. Trump, the early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was never called and did not appear before the panel.
The parts of the report previously released in February included its introduction and conclusion, as well as a section in which the grand jurors expressed concerns that one or more witnesses may have lied under oath and urged prosecutors to seek charges for perjury. The panel’s foreperson had said in news interviews that the special grand jurors had recommended that numerous people be indicted.
