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Washington: According to the forewoman, a US grand jury looking into efforts by Donald Trump and his supporters to avenge their Georgia defeat in the crucial state’s 2020 election has recommended multiple indictments.
Emily Kohrs said her 23-member panel had recommended charges against more than a dozen individuals, without naming anyone, in unusually public remarks on the secretive legal proceedings, particularly given the fact that no formal indictments have been made public.
In a televised interview with NBC News, she said: “There are some names that you would know, yes. There are titles that you might not be familiar with as well.
The people and crimes mentioned in the jury’s final report, the product of seven months of labor, “is not a short list,” she claimed in interviews with several media outlets.
In their attempt to overturn the former president’s loss to Joe Biden in the southern state by less than 12,000 ballots, prosecutors spent two years investigating possible criminal activity on the part of the former president and his allies.
Rudy Giuliani, a former counsel for Donald Trump, and 16 Republican activists are among the known targets. They posed as “electors” to sign ballots purporting to show the 76-year-old Republican won the Peach State.
Trump, who has declared a third bid for president in 2024, was not named in Kohrs’ list of those who should be charged.
She did, however, state that The New York Times “was not going to be surprised” by the jury’s verdict. She remarked, “It’s not rocket science.
Not a big narrative twist
The panel heard evidence from 75 witnesses over the course of the seven months, including Giuliani, the fourth chief of staff for Trump, Mark Meadows, and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Later, Kohrs told CNN that Meadows had exercised his fundamental right to remain silent and had “not shared very much at all.”
When asked if she was concerned about her safety speaking out in public about the sensitive subject, Kohrs responded, “I’m conscious of my safety, but I’m not worried.”
I don’t believe I should be held accountable because I don’t believe any of the juror members or I did anything that indicated we had a political opinion.
Three redacted portions of the grand jury’s report, which were released last week after a Georgia judge granted permission, revealed that the panel had not found any proof of widespread voter fraud, refuting Trump’s assertion that he had been cheated out of the election.
The jury thought witnesses may have lied under oath, but the parts that were made public did not include any suggestions for specific charges.
If the judge makes the suggestions public, Kohrs assured the Times that it wouldn’t be a major plot turn.
The panel’s findings will be presented to one of the criminal grand juries frequently appointed in Georgia’s Fulton County, a procedure that may have already begun. Democratic District Attorney Fani Willis will then decide whether to file charges.
The investigation was started by Trump’s infamous request to “find” 11,780 votes during a phone conversation with Georgia election officials on January 2, 2021, which would have given him the state’s lone electoral vote over Biden.
Kohrs also disclosed to CNN that she had heard additional Trump recorded conversations throughout the procedure.
