A Georgia grand jury recommended indictments against three senators

2023-09-08 20:19:12, Kosova & Bota CNA

A Georgia grand jury had recommended criminal charges against three Republican senators and other allies of former President Donald Trump as part of the investigation into the case in which Mr. Trump is accused of trying to sway the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, according to a document released Friday.

The report was the basis on which the prosecutors of this state filed the indictment against the former president.

The special grand jury had recommended the indictment of then-Georgia senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, as well as South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, according to the report.

Mr. Graham, an early rival of Mr. Trump who later became his friend, asked officials in Georgia to audit the ballots after the Republican president's loss.

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In the past, Mr. Graham has justified his behavior, saying he had the right to scrutinize statewide electoral actions as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Also on Friday, reacting to the report of the special jury, he said that he had acted in accordance with his position as Senator and chairman of the commission. He had objected to the jury's request to testify, but was ultimately ordered to do so by the Supreme Court.

The two former senators, Loeffler and Perdue, supporters of Mr. Trump, lost to Democratic candidates in January 2021.

The jury also recommended indictment against President Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, his counsel, Boris Epstein, and attorneys Lin Wood and Cleta Mitchell, based on the report.

None of them were among those charged when Georgia prosecutors filed the criminal case against Mr. Trump and 18 of his associates.

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The grand jury recommended indicting 39 individuals in the Dec. 15 report, which was not made public for nine months.

The special grand jury was convened in 2021 at the request of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, to aid the investigation she was conducting into the case. During that period, jurors sought testimony from 75 witnesses, including allies of Mr. Trump - his former lawyer, Rudy Guiliani, Mr. Graham and top Georgia officials such as Gov. Brian Kemp.

The grand jury has no mandate to indict. But Ms. Willis used the evidence gathered by the jury to seek an indictment from a regular grand jury last month, in which Mr. Trump and his associates are accused of leading a conspiracy to sabotage Democratic candidate Biden's victory in this country.

The grand jury had not acted unanimously. At least one of its members had voted against the recommended charges against Mr Trump.

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Thirty people who were considered participants in the conspiracy to overturn the elections in Georgia, who have not been charged, but who played a role in the scheme to overturn the result, are listed in the indictment.

The nineteen accused have declared before the court that they are innocent. As in the other three criminal cases, Mr. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and says he is the victim of political persecution.

Despite the legal challenges, he remains the candidate with the best chance of securing the Republican nomination in the race against President Biden for the 2024 presidential election. Prosecutor Willis had
asked that the grand jury report remain confidential while she decides on charges. . Now that the indictments have been made public, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in last week's decision that there was no reason for this report not to be made public./ VOA