“At least one of the witnesses” heard as part of the investigation into the pressure exerted by Donald Trump and his relatives in the US state of Georgia after the 2020 presidential election, is suspected of having lied, according to a document court released Thursday.
The justice of this southern state has published short extracts from the report drawn up by a “special grand jury”, a panel of citizens with broad investigative powers, after seven months of investigations. The long-awaited document, however, has been purged of all sensitive or nominative information, and in particular the recommendations for indictments made by this panel.
“A majority of the special grand jury believes that at least one of the witnesses heard may have committed perjury during his hearing” and recommends prosecution, can we read there without any details.
The former US president did not testify before the grand jury but 70 people were heard, including several of his lieutenants, including his ex-lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Senator Lindsey Graham.
The prosecutor will decide
Fani Willis, the prosecutor for Fulton County, which includes the large city of Atlanta, has had the full version of this report since December. She will rely on her findings to decide whether or not to charge the Republican billionaire or some of his relatives. At the end of January, she had indicated that her decision was “imminent”.
The prosecutor had opened an investigation after a phone call on January 2, 2021, in which Donald Trump asked a local official to “find” ballots on his behalf.
“There is no harm in saying that you have recalculated,” he said according to a recording of the discussion made without his knowledge and broadcast by several media.
“All I want is to find 11,780 ballots,” added the Republican. That figure roughly matched the lead his Democratic rival Joe Biden had in the state of Georgia, confirmed by a recount and audits.
Fani Willis then broadened the scope of his investigations to include a whole series of pressures exerted by Donald Trump’s allies in the state, including threats to an electoral agent or a possible attempt to intrusion into computer systems.
“No massive fraud”
Donald Trump, who persists in claiming to be the victim of “electoral fraud”, has denied any wrongdoing. According to him, the call of January 2, 2021 was “perfect and very appropriate”.
In the excerpt published Thursday, the grand jury emphasizes “having unanimously concluded that no “massive fraud” took place during the 2020 presidential election in Georgia”.
Donald Trump is also the target of federal justice investigations into possible violations of electoral law, his role in the assault on the Capitol and his management of the White House archives. He is also being sued by the New York courts, but in civil court, for the financial practices of the Trump Organization.