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ATLANTA — A special grand jury was selected Monday for the investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in Georgia.
It’s looking into whether former president Donald Trump tried to interfere with the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
A total of 200 potential grand jurors were summoned for the selection process. Out of that group, 23 jurors and three alternates were quickly picked for the panel, which can meet for up to one year.
The grand jury, which will have the power to subpoena testimony from witnesses and to obtain evidence, will not start taking testimony until next month. The lag will give jurors time to arrange their schedules and to wait until the May 24 primary in the state. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and other potential witnesses are on the ballot.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has confirmed that her team is looking into a January 2021 phone call in which Trump pushed Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed for him to win the state. She has also said they’re looking at a November 2020 phone call between U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger, the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021, and comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election.
The jury will not have the power to return an indictment but “may make recommendations concerning criminal prosecutions as it shall see fit,” Willis said in a letter to the court, adding that “a significant number of witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.”
