The office of the Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, has issued summonses to former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan and journalist George Chidi to testify before a grand jury on Tuesday regarding Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in that state.
The announcement of the summonses confirmed previous reporting by the Guardian that Willis’s office in Atlanta on Tuesday would present evidence to a grand jury weighing charges against the former president. Prosecutors could ask the grand jury to hand up charges on Tuesday as well, having completed an internal review of evidence in the case weeks ago.
“I can confirm that I have been requested to testify before the Fulton county grand jury on Tuesday. I look forward to answering their questions around the 2020 election,” Duncan tweeted on Saturday.
He added: “Republicans should never let honesty be mistaken for weakness.”
Speaking to CNN, Duncan said that he has “no expectations as to the questions, and I’ll certainly answer whatever questions are put in front of me”.
Similarly, Chidi wrote: “I’ve just received a call from district attorney Fani Willis’s office. I have been asked to come to court Tuesday for testimony before the grand jury.”
In recent weeks, Willis’s office has considered several potential statutes under which to charge the former president and affiliated operatives, including solicitation to commit election fraud and conspiracy to commit election fraud, sources familiar with the matter have told the Guardian.
Other state election law charges that have been under consideration include solicitation of a public or political officer to fail to perform their duties and solicitation to destroy, deface or remove ballots, sources said.
They also added that Willis is looking to charge certain Trump operatives who were involved in accessing voting machines and copying sensitive election data in Georgia’s Coffee county in January 2021 with computer trespass crimes.
Last month, sources familiar with the nearly three-year investigation into the former president told the Guardian that Willis has evidence to pursue a racketeering indictment predicated on statutes related to influencing witnesses and computer trespass.
The sprawling investigation began after Trump placed a phone call to the Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, on 2 January 2021 and pressured him to “find 11,780 votes” in the state which his Democratic rival Joe Biden ultimately won on his way to clinching the presidency.
“The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,” Trump can be heard saying in a recording. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated … So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.”
after newsletter promotion
An indictment could come soon after the grand jury hears the case and in turn constitute a fourth active criminal case against Trump, who’s been facing mounting legal woes since April.
The former president is already facing federal criminal conspiracy charges related to purported attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and his alleged encouragement of the January 6 US Capitol attack.
Additionally, New York state prosecutors filed charges against him related to hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
The ex-president is also facing a separate federal indictment pertaining to his alleged illegal hoarding of government secrets at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after his presidency.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all the cases against him and denies wrongdoing.
Source: Elections - theguardian.com
