The Georgia special special grand jury that investigated then-President Trump’s efforts to overturn his narrow 2020 election loss recommended multiple indictments, its forewoman told The New York Times on Tuesday.
“It is not a short list,” forewoman Emily Kohrs said, adding that the grand jury had appended eight pages of legal code “that we cited at various points in the report.”
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney on Thursday had released a partial report of the grand jury’s findings—just six pages in total—which had not detailed whether the jurors had recommended criminal indictments. For that reason, Kohrs would not name names to the Times.
Asked by the Times whether the grand jury had recommended indicting Trump, Kohrs answered cryptically,“You’re not going to be shocked. It’s not rocket science,” adding, “you won’t be too surprised.”
The six-page report released by McBurney did say jurors believed that at least some unnamed witnesses who testified in the inquiry may have committed perjury and should face indictment.
The grand jury also found, according to the six-page report, “that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election”—a rejection of arguments made by Trump and his supporters.
McBurney’s decision to release the partial grand jury report followed a hearing on January 24, when Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had urged him to keep the report sealed for the time being, adding that decisions on whether to bring criminal charges were “imminent.”
Willis had cautioned that future defendants might argue that releasing the document, which includes details into former President Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat, could publicly hurt their rights, including the right to a fair trial. McBurney had replied that there would be “no rash decisions,” citing the extraordinary nature of the investigation.
The investigation was sparked by the phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on January 2, 2021, during which the then-President pressured his fellow Republican, who recorded the call, saying, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.”
“We definitely started with the first phone call, the call to Secretary Raffensperger that was so publicized,” Kohrs told the Times.
In her prosecution of Trump and his allies, Willis reportedly focused on several areas: the phone calls made to Georgia officials by Trump and his allies; false statements made by Trump associates before Georgia legislative committees; a panel of 16 Republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating that Trump had won the state and that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors; the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta in January 2021; alleged attempts to pressure a Fulton County election worker; and breaches of election equipment in a rural south Georgia county.
The Fulton County special grand jury consists of 23 jurors and three alternates picked from a pool of residents from Atlanta and its suburbs was given full subpoena power for documents and the ability to call witnesses. Unless the jurors come forward, as Kohrs has, their individual identities may remain secret indefinitely.
