Key things to know about the Georgia grand jury report on Trump and 2020 election (2024)

Portions of thehighly anticipated reportfrom a special grand jury in Georgia that investigated Donald Trump’s actions in the state after the 2020 election and recommended a number of people be indicted for alleged crimes were released in February, and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurneyis expected to release the full final report on Friday.

The special grand jury “unanimously” concluded that there wasn’t widespread voter fraud in Georgia in 2020, rejecting Trump’s conspiracy theories after hearing “extensive testimony” from election officials, poll workers and other experts.

“We find by a unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election,” it added.

The grand jury’s conclusions on the fraud matter were important because it once again established that Trump was attempting to overturn the results of a legitimate election.

The special grand jury recommended that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis consider indicting some witnesses for perjury.

The grand jury “received evidence from or involving 75 witnesses during the course of this investigation, the overwhelming majority of which information was delivered in person under oath.” But jurors clearly weren’t satisfied.

Perjury “may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it,” according to portions of the report. “The Grand Jury recommends that the District Attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.”

How the special grand jury operated: Parts of the special grand jury report released Thursday shed light on how the panel – which had 26 members, including three alternates – operated behind closed doors over the past several months.

The grand jury began hearing evidence on June 1, 2022, having been empaneled a month earlier, and heard from 75 witnesses who played a range of roles in the 2020 election in Georgia. That testimony was usually delivered under oath.

The grand jury also reviewed physical and digital evidence, as well as the testimony from investigators and the input of team of assistant district attorneys who outlined for the grand jury the applicable statutes and procedures.

Former President Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants have beenaccused of breaking a variety of criminal lawsin the Georgia 2020 election subversion case, but one crime ties all their alleged misconduct together: the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

The state law — which is commonly referred to as RICO — is similar to the federal version of the statute that targets so-called criminal enterprises. Georgia’s law allows prosecutors to pull an array of conduct – including activities that took place outside of the state of Georgia but may have been part of a broad conspiracy — into their indictments.

Those convicted of racketeering charges also face steeper penalties, a point of leverage for prosecutors if they are hoping to flip potential co-conspirators or encourage defendants to take plea deals.

ForFulton County District Attorney Fani Willis,the law has been her calling card. The Atlanta-area prosecutor has used it in a number of high-profile cases she’s previously brought in Georgia against school officials, gangs and musicians, including the rapper Young Thug.

What's being accused in this case: Thehistoric 41-count indictmentaccuses Trump and the other defendants of being part of a broad conspiracy to attempt to overturn the 2020 election result in Georgia.

“The enterprise constituted an ongoing organization whose members and associates functioned as a continuing unit for a common purpose of achieving the objectives of the enterprise,” the98-page indictmentstates.

“The enterprise operated in Fulton County, Georgia, elsewhere in the State of Georgia, in other states, including, but not limited to, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, and in the District of Columbia,” the indictment adds.

Prosecutors say the criminal actions the charge is built around include: making false statements, filing false documents and forgeries, impersonating officials, computer breaches and attempts to influence witnesses.

Several of the acts alleged to have made up the racketeering conspiracy involved states other than Georgia. White and other legal experts stressed that Willis’ use of RICO against Trump and his co-defendants will allow prosecutors to easily tie alleged conduct into their case.

FultonCountyDistrict Attorney Fani Willis delivered a scathing response to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan’s demands for information about her investigationinto efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, slamming the Republican for trying to “interfere with an active criminal case,” according to a new letter.

WilliscondemnedJordan’s investigationinto hercase againstformer President Donald Trump and his allies. She said the Jordan probe’s“obvious purpose is to obstruct a Georgia criminal proceeding and to advance outrageous partisan misrepresentations.”

She argued “there is no justification in the Constitution for Congress to interfere with a state criminal matter, as you attempt to do.”

Dismissing Jordan’s requests for a broadarrayof documents pertaining to her investigation, Willis argued Congress does not have the jurisdiction to seek information about her ongoing criminal investigation.

Willis did voluntarily provide information about the federal funds her office receives. She said her office has receivedmore than$14 million in federal grants for a variety of programs,including addressing violent crime, at-risk youth and domestic violence.

By providing the explanations for each grant, Willisseems to betrying to get ahead of a common refrain from Jordan and other House Republicans, whosaythe government has been weaponized against conservatives and have threatened to cut funding to federal law enforcement.

“If you and your colleagues follow through on your threats to deny this office federal funds, please be aware that you will be deciding to allow serial rapists to go unprosecuted, hate crimes to be unaddressed, and to cancel programs for at-risk children,” Willis wrote. “Such vengeful, uncalled for legislative action would impose serious harm on the citizens we serve, including the fact that it will make them less safe.”

CNN has reached out to Jordan’s office for comment.

Willis also attached a series of threats against her and her family.

CNN's Jason Morris contributed reporting to this post.

Former President Donald Trump on Thursdayformally notified the judgeoverseeing the Georgia election subversion case that he “may” try to move his state case into federal court.

Trump’s lawyers have previously said they would try to move the case, which could help him get the charges dropped by invoking immunity protections for federal officials.

The 30-day clock began on August 31, when Trump waived his right to an arraignment hearing and entered a not guilty plea.

There are several potential benefits for Trump if he can move the state case into federal court.

It would give himadditional avenues to get the charges droppedif he can convince a judge that his alleged actions in the indictment were tied to his formal duties as a government official.

If the case stays in state court, the jurors will all come from Fulton County, which President Joe Biden won by a 47-point margin. If the case moves to federal court, the jury pool will be culled from a 10-county region near Atlanta that Biden won by 32 points, a narrower but still comfortable margin.

Several of Trump’s 19 co-defendants are already attempting to move their case to federal court.

Fulton County District AttorneyFani Williswants to keep the identities of jurors who may be chosen to hear theGeorgia 2020 election interference casesecret, after grand jurors who issued the indictment against Donald Trump and his allies weredoxed online, according to a new court filing.

Willis is asking the court to “issue an order restricting any Defendant, members of the press, or any other person from disseminating potential jurors’ and empanel jurors’ identities during voir dire and trial,” according to the Wednesday filing.

CNN previously reportedthat names, photographs, social media profiles and even the home addresses purportedly belonging to members of grand jury who voted to indict Trump and his 18 co-defendants circulated on social media.

The names of the grand jurors were included on the indictment as a matter of practice for indictments in Fulton County. However, the indictment, which is a public record available on the court website, does not include their addresses or any other personally identifiable information.

Doxing the grand jurors who voted on the indictment “resulted in law enforcement officials, including the Atlanta Police Department, Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, and other police departments in the jurisdiction, putting plans in place to protect the grand jurors and prevent harassment and violence against them,” the district attorney’s office said in the filing.

It notes that personal information for Willis and members of her family was also shared online.

In an affidavit included with the filing, an investigator in the district attorney’s office said he worked with the Department of Homeland Security to determine that the site that listed the personal information for Willis and her family members was hosted by Russia “and is known by DHS as to be uncooperative with law enforcement.”

Former President Donald Trump, White House chief of staffMark Meadowsand the other remaining defendants in the 2020 election interference case in Fulton County, Georgia, pleaded not guilty and waived their arraignments, court filings show.

Misty Hampton, who faces charges related to the Coffee County voting system breach and was the last holdout among the 19 defendants charged in District Attorney Fani Willis’ case, entered her plea on September 5.

Arraignment hearings had been scheduled for September 6 in Atlanta. Georgia law allows criminal defendants to waive their in-person appearance and formally enter a not guilty plea through paperwork filed with the court.

Trump also formallyasked a judge to sever his casefrom his co-defendants who want a speedy trial. Trump attorney Steven Sadow says he will not have “sufficient time” to prepare his case for trial by October 23, 2023, and forcing that trial date would “violate President Trump’s federal and state constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process of law." His arraignment marks the fourth time that Trump has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges since leaving the presidency.

Trump faces more than a dozen charges, some of which relate to efforts to put forth fake electors to falsely claim that the then-president won Georgia in 2020. He surrendered in August and agreed to a$200,000 bondand other release conditions, including not using social media to target the co-defendants and witnesses in the case.

Meadows has been charged with two state crimes: violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering RICO law and soliciting a public official to violate their oath. The charges mostly revolve around theinfamous January 2021 phone callwhere Trump and Meadows pressed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to flip the election results in then-President Donald Trump’s favor.

At a high-stakes hearing in August, Meadows testified under oath for more than three hours and claimed that the alleged actions described in the Georgia indictment were connected to his formal government duties as Trump’s chief of staff.

These are the 19 defendants in the case:

Read more about the case.

The shape of the sprawling Fulton County, Georgia, trial against former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants began to emerge on Wednesday at the first televised hearing in the case since the indictment was filed last month.

The Fulton County district attorney’s office said it’s planned a four months-long trial, while defense attorneys for two of the defendants, pro-Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, argued their cases should be severed from the other defendants.

The state judge presiding over Trump’s election subversion case, Scott McAfee, denied the motion for Chesebro and Powell — who have both filed to hold a speedy trial — to sever their cases from each other, but he was skeptical of the district attorney’s desire to hold a trial for all 19 defendants beginning next month.

Here are the key things to know from the first hearing:

Judge skeptical of timeline: McAfee expressed skepticism about Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ desire to hold a joint trial for all 19 defendants in October.

The judge has already set a trial date for Chesebro on October 23 after he made a speedy trial request under Georgia law, and Willis responded with a motion that all 19 defendants should be tried at the same time.

McAfee didn’t deny that motion — but he was dubious during Wednesday’s hearing.

The District Attorney’s office expects its case against the 19 defendants would take about four months, not including jury selection, and prosecutors expect to call more than 150 witnesses. McAfee, however, thought the timeline was very optimistic, saying, “it could easily be twice that,” given the multiple defendants in the case.

Judge denies bids to sever Powell from Chesebro: While McAfee suggested he would separate Powell and Chesebro from the other 17 defendants, he ruled from the bench Wednesday denying their motions to sever their cases from one another.

McAfee ruled that Powell and Chesebro will go to trial together on October 23.

“Based on what’s been presented today, I am not finding the severance for Mr. Cheseboro or Powell is necessary to achieve a fair determination of the guilt or innocence for either defendant in this case,” McAfee said.

Defendants point fingers at one another: The attorneys for Chesebro and Powell each took the same strategy during Wednesday’s hearing: distancing their client from the other co-defendants.

Manny Arora, who represents Chesebro, argued that his client had never met Powell and had never been to Coffee County, Georgia, where a breach of voting systems is part of the allegations in the indictment against Powell.

When Powell’s attorney, Brian Rafferty, spoke, he made the same point, saying Powell didn’t know Chesebro and had no involvement in the fake elector allegations against Chesebro. He argued that Powell was “not the driving force” behind the breach of voting machines.

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