A District Attorney in Georgia told a judge that she did not want a grand jury report released to the public regarding an investigation into former president Donald Trump’s alleged misconduct in the 2020 election.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said releasing the report by the “special purpose grand jury” would be inappropriate, reported CBS News.
A special purpose case grand jury is an investigative body that can recommend charges, but unlike a normal grand jury, it cannot indict. In this case, the grand jury submitted its findings to Willis and Judge Robert McBurney before dissolving.
“We are asking that this report not be released, because, you having seen that report, decisions are imminent,” Willis said to McBurney at a hearing on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Donald Wakefield said the report could be released later once charging decisions have been made.
“Our position should not be understood to be a blanket opposition to release of the report forever and ’til the end of time,” Wakefield said.
Some other officials under the microscope of the special purpose grand jury’s investigation included Rudy Giuliani, a former attorney for Trump, as well as at least 16 Georgia Republicans who allegedly participated in a so-called “alternate elector scheme.”
Tom Clyde, an attorney for a group of media outlets asking for the release of the report, said that the secrecy of the grand jury process effectively ended when the special purpose grand jury was dissolved.
“We believe the report should be released now, and in its entirety, and that approach is consistent with the way the American judicial system operates,” Clyde said. “It is not unusual for a district attorney or a prosecuting authority to be uncomfortable with having to release information during the progress of a case.”
The grand jury itself, comprising 23 Georgians who interviewed more than 75 witnesses, recommended the release of the report.
Trump’s attorneys, Drew Findling, Marissa Goldberg, and Jennifer Little, responded in an email Monday, arguing that the former president had never been included in the special purpose grand jury’s investigation.
“The grand jury compelled the testimony of dozens of other, often high-ranking, officials during the investigation, but never found it important to speak with the President,” the email from Trump’s attorneys read. “He was never subpoenaed nor asked to come in voluntarily by this grand jury or anyone in the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. Therefore, we can assume that the grand jury did their job and looked at the facts and the law, as we have, and concluded there were no violations of the law by President Trump.”