Fulton County district attorney turns up the heat on Trump as she seeks to assemble a special grand jury for 2020 probe

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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is seeking a special grand jury in her investigation of former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 presidential election.

"In a Thursday letter to Christopher S. Brasher, chief judge of Fulton County’s Superior Court, Willis said the move was needed because a “significant number of witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday. "She cited comments Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger made during an October 2021 interview with NBC News’ Chuck Todd."

The probe is centered around Trump's Jan. 2 phone call to Raffensperger, when he urged the elections chief to "find" enough votes to overcome Biden's victory.

"So-called special purpose grand juries are rarely used in Georgia but could be a valuable tool for Willis as she takes the extraordinary step of investigating the conduct of a president while he was in office," the newspaper reported. "Special grand juries, which typically have 16 to 23 members, can’t issue indictments. But they can subpoena witnesses, compel the production of documents, inspect and enter into certain offices for the purposes of the investigation."
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-fulton-c ... rand-jury/

TOT is in Deep dodo. They gather evidence, then a regular Grand Jury can issue indictments. Also evidence discovered can be used in Federal Courts.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Fulton County district attorney turns up the heat on Trump as she seeks to assemble a special grand jury for 2020 pr

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Do it. Raffensperger initially released a tape of part of the Trump phone call and later IIRC released the whole thing. He had staff in his office who were party to the conversation and potential witnesses. The NY AG and NY County DA are also using special grand juries, it's not new.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Fulton County district attorney turns up the heat on Trump as she seeks to assemble a special grand jury for 2020 pr

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CDFingers wrote: Thu Jan 20, 2022 7:36 pm He he. Wonder if he sweats orange.

CDFiingers
Why not since Rudy sweats brown shit.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Fulton County district attorney turns up the heat on Trump as she seeks to assemble a special grand jury for 2020 pr

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The Bulwark article is good, except #5. Biden captured 3 states that Trump won in 2016: AZ, GA and PA. Biden's electors went to their state capitals and voted for Biden. Democratic and Republican officials in those three states certified the Democratic electors votes and sent them to the president of the senate. Those votes were counted and Biden is in the White House. Electors are appointed by political parties and only get to officially vote in the state capital if their candidate wins the popular vote in their state. Otherwise it's meaningless, the election is over and Biden won.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Fulton County district attorney turns up the heat on Trump as she seeks to assemble a special grand jury for 2020 pr

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But the question remains: Were Trump’s attempts to reverse the outcome in Georgia (and nationally) criminal? There is compelling evidence that they were, under both Georgia state law and federal criminal statutes.

Perhaps the best guide to why is a Brookings Institution report, published in October, that assessed Trump’s actions in light of Georgia criminal law. Among the seven lawyers and scholars who wrote the report was Gwen Keyes Fleming, an experienced former Georgia prosecutor and the former DeKalb County district attorney. The report concluded that “Trump’s post-election conduct in Georgia leaves him at substantial risk of possible state charges predicated on multiple crimes.” The crimes include “criminal solicitation to commit election fraud” and “conspiracy to commit election fraud,” among others.

I highlight those two statutes because they most plainly apply on their face. Georgia’s conspiracy-to-commit-election-fraud statute makes it a crime when one “conspires or agrees with another” to violate Georgia’s election laws and, crucially, states that “the crime shall be complete when the conspiracy or agreement is effected and an overt act in furtherance thereof has been committed, regardless of whether the violation of this chapter is consummated.” In other words, the scheme does not have to succeed to be criminal.

Georgia’s relevant criminal-solicitation statute is also both straightforward and deeply problematic for Trump. Its first provision states:

A person commits the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the first degree when, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a felony under this article, he or she solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage in such conduct.

And what is the precise violation of Georgia election law that Trump was conspiring to commit and soliciting others to commit? His demands implicate a number of laws, but among the most applicable is Georgia Code Section 21-2-566, which prohibits willfully tampering “with any electors list, voter’s certificate, numbered list of voters, ballot box, voting machine, direct recording electronic (DRE) equipment, electronic ballot marker, or tabulating machine.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... mp/621326/

I think he's toast.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Fulton County district attorney turns up the heat on Trump as she seeks to assemble a special grand jury for 2020 pr

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If he was convicted, a pardon in GA isn't as easy as a federal pardon. To get a GA pardon:
You were convicted of a felony offense in Georgia;
You completed all sentences at least five (5) years before applying (this means that you have been off parole or probation for five years);
You have lived a law-abiding life in the last five (5) years;
You do not have any pending charges; and
All of your fines and/or restitution are paid.
https://www.gjp.org/programs/criminal-r ... s-pardons/

Of course the GA Legislature and governor could change the pardon law.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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