The former foreperson of the Fulton County, Georgia, special grand jury that investigated attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election results has implied that former President Donald Trump will be indicted by District Attorney Fani Willis.
The forewoman, Emily Kohrs, has publicly commented on the case to a number of news outlets.
The portions of the grand jury’s report to Willis that were made public last week only included recommendations for perjury charges. The remainder of the report includes further recommendations for charges, Kohrs told The New York Times earlier this week, adding that it’s “not a short list.”
“You’re not going to be shocked” by the names on the list, she said. “It’s not rocket science.”
She continued:
It is not going to be some giant plot twist. You probably have a fair idea of what may be in there. I’m trying very hard to say that delicately.
Kohrs also implied that Trump featured prominently in the final report, noting that the grand jury examined a significant amount of evidence related to the former president’s phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R). In that call, Trump demanded that Raffensperger “find” him enough votes to overturn President Joe Biden’s win in the state.
“We definitely started with the first phone call, the call to Secretary Raffensperger that was so publicized,” Kohrs said.
It is illegal to coerce, command, or otherwise attempt to get a state election official to engage in election fraud under Georgia state law.
In a CNN interview later this week, Kohrs again insinuated that the grand jury had recommended charges for Trump.
“There may be some names on that list that you wouldn’t expect. But the big name that everyone keeps asking me about — I don’t think you will be shocked,” she said.
Legal experts and other observers expressed concern that Kohrs’s public statements could undermine Willis’s work.
“She shouldn’t be doing this. It isn’t helpful to the perception of the objectivity of the criminal justice system, and it starts to feel like she’s putting pressure on the district attorney to actually move forward with charges,” said Dan Abrams, ABC News’s chief legal analyst.
Indeed, Trump has already spoken out against Kohrs, calling her an “extremely energetic young woman” and saying that she is conducting a “media tour,” implying that she is trying to get famous for her role on the grand jury. Trump has repeatedly derided the investigation as a “witch hunt” and described the grand jury as a “kangaroo court.”
But long before Kohrs began speaking publicly on the matter, Willis was adamant that charges would be forthcoming. After the report from the special grand jury was submitted to her office, but before Kohrs’s public statements, Willis said that charges would be “imminent.”
Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman has said that it’s pretty clear Trump will be charged.
“When you combine [Kohrs’s comments] with everything else that you know…I don’t think there’s any conclusion you can come to here, other than Donald Trump is going to be indicted in Georgia,” Akerman said.
The former federal prosecutor has said for months now that Trump will eventually face charges. In June of last year, for example, Akerman said that Trump had “zero defense” in the investigation, citing the recorded conversation with Raffensperger and evidence from other inquiries into Trump’s actions after his 2020 presidential election loss.
“Once you look at what he said, trying to get Brad Raffensperger to come up with extra votes to make him a winner in Georgia, and put in the context about the January 6th committee has found, I think they have gotten a case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Akerman said at the time.
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