Georgia grand jury flags perjury at Donald Trump election probe
A grand jury in Georgia investigating potential interference by Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election believes witnesses may have lied under oath.
A grand jury in Georgia investigating potential interference by Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election found no evidence of voter fraud in the state and believes witnesses may have lied under oath.
Prosecutors have spent two years looking into whether the former US president and his allies committed crimes in a bid to overturn his defeat in the southern state to Joe Biden by fewer than 12,000 votes.
“A majority of the grand jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it,” the panel said in a report it has been preparing for seven months.
“The grand jury recommends that the district attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.”
The investigative panel of 23 jurors, which cannot issue indictments, took testimony from 75 witnesses, including Mr Trump’s fourth chief of staff, Mark Meadows, his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Republican South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham.
“We find by a unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election,” the report said.
Its full charging recommendations, including the identities of those in its crosshairs, are being kept secret for now because some of the targets may not yet have had a chance to appear in grand jury proceedings.
Democratic district attorney Fani Willis will make the ultimate charging decision after presenting the panel’s findings to one of the criminal grand juries regularly empaneled.
The panel probed Mr Trump’s January 2, 2021, phone call with Georgia election officials whom he infamously asked to “find” the 11,780 votes that would put him one vote ahead of Mr Biden.
It also scrutinised efforts by top Trump allies to deputise Republican activists to pose as presidential “electors” at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta in December 2020 and sign certificates falsely claiming Mr Trump had won the state’s election.
Legal experts have speculated that Mr Trump might be charged with corruption.
AFP
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