Georgia 2020 election grand jury suspected witnesses lied: report

WASHINGTON — A special Georgia grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results believes some of the 75 witnesses who gave testimony lied under oath, according to parts of the panel’s final report released Thursday.

“A majority of the grand jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it,” the grand jurors wrote in the Dec. 15 document. “The grand jury recommends that the district attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.”

The report does not identify any witnesses suspected of perjuring themselves.

The group of 26 also said they unanimously found no evidence to back the 45th president’s claims that widespread voter fraud cost him the Peach State’s 16 electoral votes after hearing “extensive testimony of the alleged election fraud from poll workers, investigators, technical experts and State of Georgia employees and officials, as well as from persons still claiming that such fraud took place.”

The release of the report comes after a six-month probe by Atlanta’s top prosecutor into whether Trump, 76, and his allies conspired to commit voter fraud themselves after a January 2021 recording revealed the 45th president pressed the state’s top election official to alter the results.

During the Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the then-president asked Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to make up his deficit to Democrat Joe Biden.

“All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said. “Because we won the state.”

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Raffensperger was among the witnesses to appear before the panel, along with Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.

The report’s partial release was ordered Monday by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney following a hearing last month during which prosecutors urged him not to release the report until they decide on charges. A coalition of media organizations had pushed for the entire report to be made public immediately.

McBurney wrote in his order that it was not appropriate to release the full report in order to protect the rights of people against whom the grand jury recommended charges.

The special grand jury, which was requested by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, did not have the power to issue indictments. Instead, its report contains recommendations for Willis, who will ultimately decide whether to seek one or more indictments from a regular grand jury.

Willis last summer sent letters informing some people, including Giuliani and 16 Republican officials who affirmed that Trump had won the state and they were “duly elected and qualified” electors, that they could face criminal charges.

Trump, who announced his 2024 bid for the White House on Nov. 15, is also under federal investigation for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol — as well as the retention of more than 150 classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving office.

In a third-person statement following the report’s release, Trump insisted that he had done “absolutely nothing wrong.”

“The President participated in two perfect phone calls regarding election integrity in Georgia, which he is entitled to do – in fact, as President, it was President Trump’s Constitutional duty to ensure election safety, security, and integrity,” he said. “Between the two calls, there were many officials and attorneys on the line, including the Secretary of State of Georgia, and no one objected, even slightly protested, or hung up. President Trump will always keep fighting for true and honest elections in America!”