The foreperson for the Georgia grand jury that weighed evidence of former President Donald Trump’s attempts to interfere in the 2020 election offered The New York Times a cryptic answer when asked whether the panel recommended indicting Trump.
“You’re not going to be shocked. It’s not rocket science,” Emily Kohrs told the outlet Tuesday. “You won’t be too surprised.”
Advertisement
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney allowed certain sections of the grand jury’s report to become public last week, but he made sure not to include any names of people who could be indicted, citing due process concerns.
“I will tell you that if the judge releases the recommendations, it is not going to be some giant plot twist,” Kohrs added. “You probably have a fair idea of what may be in there. I’m trying very hard to say that delicately.”
Trump and his allies infamously leaned on Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a January 2021 phone call nearly two months after Joe Biden won the presidential election, with Trump asking Raffensperger to “find” him just enough votes to tip the results in Georgia in his favor. An audio recording of the call was leaked to The Washington Post shortly afterward, and a Fulton County criminal investigation followed.
The 23-member grand jury ultimately concluded that there was no evidence of “widespread fraud” in the 2020 election in Georgia, contrary to the claims Trump has continued to make after losing more than two years ago.
Advertisement
The excerpts of the panel’s report released so far do not spell out what specific charges are recommended.
But the jurors certainly recommend charges.
“It is not a short list,” Kohrs told The New York Times. She noted that the panel appended eight pages of legal code that was cited in its report.
The decision on whether to prosecute lies with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
The panel of jurors, which included three alternates, met to hear testimony and review evidence over a seven-month period beginning last May.
Kohrs dished about what it was like to be part of the investigation in an earlier interview with The Associated Press, revealing that her fellow jurors wanted to hear from Trump directly but did not believe he would offer meaningful testimony. Trump was ultimately not subpoenaed.
“Trump was not a battle we picked to fight,” she told the AP.
The jurors stated in their report that “a majority” of members believed “perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses” who gave testimony.
Advertisement
“The grand jury recommends that the district attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling,” they wrote.
