Major win for Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid

Donald Trump could dodge criminal charges over 2020 election interference allegations after a grand jury delivered a new ‘nightmare’ to prosecutors.

FILE: US President Donald Trump laughs during a Medal of Freedom ceremony for Lou Holtz in the Oval Office of the White House on December 3, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

Donald Trump may dodge criminal charges after the investigation into 2020 election interference leaked suggestions of a potential indictment of the former US president.

In what has been described as a “nightmare for prosecutors”, the Georgia special grand jury forewoman, Emily Kohrs, suggested to multiple media outlets that the sealed portion of their report recommended indictments against more than a dozen people.

Asked whether that included the former president, Ms Kohrs refused to confirm but burst into laughter and rolled her eyes in response to Trump’s claims the grand jury gave him “total exoneration”

“Did he really say that?” she told The Atlantic Journal-Constitution. “Oh, that’s fantastic. That’s phenomenal. I love it.”

She added to The New York Times that no one was “going to be shocked” over whether or not the jury recommended indictments of Trump.

“It’s not rocket science,” she said. “It is not going to be some giant plot twist … You probably have a fair idea of what may be in there. I’m trying very hard to say that delicately.”

Legal experts were shocked at the unprecedented media blitz, which also included interviews with The Associated Press, CNN and NBC News.

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said on Twitter that Kohrs’ disclosure before the release of the full report carried a “legal risk” to the case and would “likely provide Trump and others with arguments to challenge the indictments”.

Former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI Frank Figliuzzi said on MSNBC he had never seen anything like it during his 25 years at the law enforcement agency.

“I am deeply troubled by the fact that there is this much disclosure going on in this process, and I think it has legal ramifications,” he said.

US President Donald Trump may dodge a prosecutorial bullet after a grand jury forewoman revealed deliberations over potential 2020 election interference indictments. Picture: AFP

“I think this young woman means well, but I also think she does not understand the repercussions here. I would not be surprised if we see a judge come in and admonish the remainder of this special grand jury that he’s heard enough of them speaking publicly.”

Trump quickly seized on the “ridiculous” Georgia case, saying in a statement that it was part of the “greatest Witch Hunt of all time”.

“Now you have an extremely energetic young woman, the (get this!) ‘foreperson’ of the Racist DA’s Special Grand Jury, going around and doing a Media Tour revealing, incredibly, the Grand Jury’s inner workings & thoughts,” Trump said.

“This is not JUSTICE, this is an illegal Kangaroo Court,” he added. ”Atlanta is leading the Nation in Murder and other Violent Crimes. All I did is make TWO PERFECT PHONE CALLS!!!”

While the law in the US state of Georgia allows grand jurors to discuss some parts of a case, it bans them from directly revealing deliberations.

Former federal prosecutor Elie Honig said on CNN, meanwhile, that the interviews discussed deliberations, like specific witnesses they saw, in what was a “horrible idea” that would leave the District Attorney “wincing”.

“It’s a prosecutor’s nightmare,” he said. “Mark my words, Donald Trump’s team is going to make a motion if there’s an indictment to dismiss that indictment base on grand jury impropriety.”

“I am deeply troubled by the fact that this much disclosure is going on in this process and I think it has legal ramifications.. I would not be surprised if we see a judge come in and admonish the remainder of the special grand jury…” pic.twitter.com/YqJINyeMNn

— Acyn (@Acyn) February 22, 2023

She’s not supposed to be talking about anything. But she’s not supposed to be talking about the deliberations.

“I think she’s potentially crossing a line here. It’s gonna be a real problem for prosecutors.”

The problem for prosecutors is a win for Trump as he faces his first serious challenger for the Republican Party primary, Nikki Haley, and the potential entry of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Some of Ms Kohrs revelations that Trump’s legal team could use to challenge an indictment are the phone call recordings the grand jury heard of Trump, which have not previously been made public.

“It is amazing how many hours of footage you can find of that man [Trunp] on the phone,” she told AJC. “Some of these that were privately recorded by people or recorded by a staffer.”

She also explained their decision not to subpoena Trump, or invite him to volunteer testimony, saying they already “knew what to expect” from the ex-president.

“So especially with our time being limited and with our resources being limited, when it came to that it was like ‘eh, we’d rather get this person, which is a battle that we can win, than this other one,’” she said.

She added those recommended for indictment “was not a short list”, adding that “potentially, it might”, include Trump.

Originally published as Major win for Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid