Georgia special grand jury recommended charges in election case for Sen. Graham and 2 ex-senators
ATLANTA (AP) — A report released on Friday revealed that a special grand jury investigating efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results recommended indictments against a much larger group than Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ultimately charged, including one current and two former U.S. senators.
The nine-page report showed jurors recommended charges against 39 people, compared to the 18 who were charged along with former President Donald Trump. The names of those not indicted included Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, former U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue of Georgia and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Parts of the report, with 19 pages of appendices, 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. Graham and an attorney who has represented him 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.
The release of the identities of people recommended for indictment is a departure from ordinary grand jury protocol, which dictates that prosecutors do not disclose the names of individuals investigated but not charged so as to prevent potentially innocent subjects from being unduly maligned.
The special grand jury’s report is based on the testimony of the witnesses prosecutors called and the evidence they presented over the second half of last year. In their report, the grand jurors made clear that the panel “contained no election law experts or criminal lawyers.”
“The majority of this Grand Jury used their collective best efforts, however, to attend every session, listen to every witness, and attempt to understand the facts as presented and the laws as explained,” the report continues.
Willis was not bound by their recommendations. Of the 19 people ultimately indicted, only one was not included in the special grand jury’s recommendations. A former White House aide who served as the director of Trump’s election day operations, Michael Roman, was involved in efforts to put forth a set of fake electors after the 2020 election.
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.
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, Jill Colvin in New York, Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., and Michelle R. Smith in Providence, R.I, contributed to this report.