In an important development, the Georgia Supreme Court has unanimously rejected an attempt by former US President Donald Trump’s lawyers to halt a grand jury investigation probing potential criminal charges related to alleged meddling in the 2020 election. The lawyers had failed to offer any concrete reason to impede the investigation.
Last week, a petition was filed soon after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney administered oaths to two grand juries. It is expected that one of these will be involved in the Georgia election case.
Trump’s legal team argues that the initial special purpose grand jury, which had heard evidence for eight months, had exceeded its legal jurisdiction. They also allege that efforts to suppress the report and to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis were not taken into account by McBurney.
The legal team for the former president is pleading with Georgia’s highest court to prohibit the use of the special purpose grand jury’s report in future legal proceedings, prevent Willis from using any evidence gathered from the special purpose grand jury, and disqualify Willis from acting in any case involving Trump.
Willis has previously criticized similar motions by Trump, labelling them as “procedurally flawed” and presenting “arguments that lack merit”. The Georgia Supreme Court seems to agree with the move to disqualify Willis from the case.
The Court dismissed Trump’s petition, stating that the case does not present the exceptionally rare circumstances required to invoke the Court’s original jurisdiction. It also rejected Trump’s bid to dismiss the special purpose grand jury report. Willis has indicated that she will likely seek charges from a grand jury in the coming month.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been probing the allegations since early 2021. This was initiated after the release of a phone recording between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, where Trump seemed to encourage Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes”, sufficient to overturn his slim defeat in the state.
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer, and Lindsey Graham, South Carolina senator, are among the high-profile figures who gave testimony before the special grand jury. It was also indicated that Willis had struck immunity deals with at least eight ‘fake electors’, implying possible cooperation with authorities.
However, Trump and his allies vehemently deny any wrongdoing, and his lawyers have denounced the Fulton County investigation as “politically motivated”.
The grand jury process, in this case, will likely continue as planned, with decisions on charges expected between July and September. The proceedings are not open to the public or the media.
An existing federal indictment against the former president does not necessarily interfere with the Georgia case. Despite being indicted at a federal level or at the state level, Trump could still run for presidency in 2024.
