GA Special Grand Jury Releases Partial Report on 2020 Election

Facts

• On Thursday, a special grand jury in Fulton County, Ga., released a partial report from its investigation into allegations that former Pres. Donald Trump and his allies meddled in Georgia’s presidential election as part of a broader effort to overturn the 2020 election.¹
• This comes after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ordered a partial release of the panel's findings, including the introduction, conclusion, and any concerns the grand jury panel had about perjury earlier this week.²
• The partial report said “one or more witnesses” may have lied under oath and urged Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to pursue indictments against them. The identities of the witnesses, however, weren't revealed in the few pages released to the public.³
• Seventy-five witnesses gave sworn testimony, including Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), as the special grand jury examined Trump’s controversial claims of voter fraud and his Jan. 2, 2021, phone call with Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensberger in which he allegedly claimed he won the state.⁴
• The special grand jury also unanimously voted that there was no “widespread” voter fraud in the state. The former president released a statement Thursday maintaining his innocence, asserting that he did “absolutely nothing wrong.”⁵
• Unlike a regular grand jury, the special purpose grand jury cannot issue indictments, but rather it submits its findings to the district attorney, who can then decide whether to present evidence to a grand jury for criminal charges.⁶

Sources: ¹FOX News, ²CNN, ³CNBC, ⁴Reuters, ⁵Associated Press and ⁶NBC.

Narratives

• Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by Federalist. Just like its predecessors, this politically motivated investigation into Trump found absolutely nothing on him. The whole “Special Purpose Grand Jury '' was senseless from the beginning, and after wasting everyone’s time, it's trying to spin its findings to say that one or more witnesses “may” have committed perjury without revealing any names.
• Democratic narrative, as provided by MSNBC. Trump is taking a very strange — and premature — victory lap by issuing a statement to a partial release of a report in which his allies may have lied under oath. Trump boasts about the report not mentioning him by name, but the partial report didn’t mention anyone’s name. This is another misleading statement from the former president, and much more will come to light from this investigation.