With possible New York indictment looming, Trump could also face charges in Georgia
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As former President Donald Trump faces a possible indictment from a Manhattan grand jury, his attorneys are fighting the possibility of criminal charges in Georgia related to election interference.
A lawyer for Trump filed a motion to quash a grand jury report and preclude the use of any evidence from the grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, Monday, according to media reports. There, Trump faces charges related to a case opened in 2021 after a recording was made public of his phone call asking Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to reverse his loss in the state.
In the filing, Trump’s attorney writes that the grand jury’s report was “conducted under an unconstitutional statute, through an illegal and unconstitutional process, and by a disqualified District Attorney’s Office who violated prosecutorial standards and acted with disregard for the gravity of the circumstances and the constitutional rights of those involved.”
The attorney also singled out the grand jury foreperson who “engaged in a media tour where she shared specifics of her experience publicly,” inflicting harm. Foreperson Emily Kohrs took part in media interviews in February and was criticized for speaking publicly and appearing to some as unserious. She was parodied last month on “Saturday Night Live.”
In a post on his social network, Trump called Kohrs “an extremely energetic young woman” who was “going around and doing a Media Tour revealing, incredibly, the Grand Jury’s inner workings & thoughts.”
“This is not JUSTICE,” Trump wrote.
The judge who is overseeing the case, Judge Robert C. McBurney, told ABC News jurors “can talk about the final report” and are only barred from discussing their deliberations. “Witness testimony is not deliberations,” McBurney said. He did not answer whether he saw anything Kohrs said publicly that violated her oath.
Norm Eisen, a former special assistant to the president for ethics and government reform under former President Barack Obama, told the Independent he thought it would be better for Kohrs to be more restrained, but that the only real danger from her comments would be an opportunity for Trump’s team to file motions as a delay tactic. “Donald Trump may very well attempt to file some kind of a motion about the foreperson’s statements. But legally, they’re not significant,” he said.
A decision whether or not to bring charges was “imminent,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said in January.
Related
The New York and Georgia investigations aren’t the only inquiries Trump now faces. The New York case is connected to an alleged hush-money payment made on Trump’s behalf to an adult actor during the 2016 campaign. He is also facing two criminal investigations by the Justice Department, one related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and Trump’s efforts to overturn the election and another related to the removal of White House documents when Trump left office.
