5-27-2022
Georgia DA to subpoena 50 witnesses in racketeering investigation into Trump.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to take dozens of subpoenas to a grand jury investigating the efforts by supporters of Donald Trump to overturn the election in Georgia, which was won by Joe Biden.
"As many as 50 witnesses are expected to be subpoenaed by a special grand jury that will begin hearing testimony next week in the criminal investigation into whether former President Donald J. Trump and his allies violated Georgia laws in their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state," The New York Times reported Friday.
Willis had paused the investigation until after Georgia's 2022 primary elections, which were conducted on Tuesday.
Willis spoke with the newspaper on Thursday.
"As many as 50 witnesses have declined to talk to
her voluntarily and are likely to be subpoenaed,
she said.
The potential crimes to be reviewed go well beyond the phone call that Mr. Trump made to Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger,
on Jan. 2, 2021, during which he asked him to find enough votes to reverse the election results," the newspaper explained.
"Ms. Willis is weighing racketeering among other potential charges and said that such cases have the potential to sweep in people who have never set foot in Fulton or made a single phone call to the county."
Raffensperger's confirmed he had been subpoenaed, along with Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the secretary of state’s office. Two Democratic state senators, Jen Jordan and Elena Parent, both said they had received subpoenas. Both serve on a judiciary subcommittee that heard from Rudy Giuliani.
"Her investigators are also reviewing the slate of fake electors that Republicans created in a desperate attempt to circumvent the state’s voters.
She said the scheme to submit fake Electoral College delegates could lead to fraud charges, among others — and cited her approach to a 2014 racketeering case she helped lead as an assistant district attorney, against a group of educators involved in a cheating scandal in the Atlanta public schools," the newspaper reported.
Raffensperger is expected to face questions on two key phone calls, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday.
"The first is the hour-long phone call Trump placed
to him on Jan. 2, 2021, in which the then-president pressed Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes to reverse Democrat Joe Biden’s win in Georgia," the newspaper reported.
"The second involves another call that Raffensperger received two months earlier, in the days following the Nov. 3 election, from Trump ally U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Raffenpserger said that Graham had questioned him, as election officials conducted a recount and audit of the presidential race, about whether he had the power to disqualify more absentee ballots based on mismatched signatures."
The newspaper has been told to expect a subpoena for reporter Greg Bluestein, who extensively covered the efforts to overturn the election.
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