Prosecutors are on the ‘verge of subpoenaing Trump’, ex-DOJ official says, after two Georgia grand juries were convened to investigate his interference with the election
- Two grand juries in Fulton County are reportedly investigating
- Trump asked Georgia election official to ‘find’ 11,780 votes
- Former acting solicitor general said Trump is ‘certainly’ looking at potential criminal exposure
- Prosecutors in New York have obtained eight years of his tax returns
- Trump once again claimed he won the election during a wedding toast at Mar-a-Lago Saturday
Former President Donald Trump is facing potential ‘criminal exposure’ in Georgia and two grand juries could be getting close to issuing subpoenas for information, in the latest chapter in Trump’s legal woes.
Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis is probing Trump’s alleged interference in the state’s election, where state officials certified Joe Biden‘s win.
The DailyBeast reported two separate grand juries are investigating there, and that the secret proceedings would soon issue subpoenas.
Two grand juries in Fulton County, Georgia are reportedly investigating Trump, and could issue subpoenas soon
‘I suspect that’s in the very near future,’ Willis said.
On Monday night, former acting U.S. solicitor general told MSNBC said Trump is ‘certainly is looking at criminal exposure.’
‘Donald Trump is the only president to have more open grand juries than election wins,’ he quipped.
Katyal called the grand juries ‘a very serious prosecutorial step.’ And the next step may be even more significant.
‘It looks like, according to the news reports, that they’re on the verge of using their inquisitive powers to subpoena ― that is, get documents ― from the president,’ he explained.
‘Donald Trump is the only president to have more open grand juries than election wins,’ said former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal
Fulton County DA Fani Willis is heading the investigation
Donald Trump was set to make a toast at a wedding being held at his country club but ended up talking about losing the 2020 election and the border crisis
It was not immediately clear why there were two grand juries investigating. ‘But if you’re Donald Trump right now, it’s not looking good,’ he said.
MSNBC host Ari Melber, who interviewed Katyal, noted that election company Dominion could still file suit against Trump. The firm has already sued Fox News and other outlets who aired comments by Trump supporters who raised conspiracy theories about election fraud involving their product without providing evidence.
Trump repeated his claims of election fraud in a bizarre wedding toast for a couple at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend. ‘
‘They said get 66 million votes, sir, and the election is over. I got 75 million votes, and you saw what happened,’ Trump told the crowd while celebrating the couple from a microphone.
‘At 10.30pm in the evening, all of a sudden, they said that’s a strange thing, why are they closing up certain places. There’s a lot of things happening right now,’ he said.
Some of Trump’s interactions with state election officials and investigators during his election overturn effort have leaked since the November elections.
In one, he famously told secretary of state Brad Raffensperger: ‘I just want to find 11,780 votes.’ If Trump were ever charged, his lawyers would likely argue that he believed there had been fraud and he wanted officials to find it.
Democrats brought up the call in their impeachment effort for ‘incitement of insurrection’ following the Jan. 6th riot that resulted in Trump’s acquittal in the Senate.
Trump also faces legal jeopardy in New York, where prosecutors in Manhattan have obtained his tax return information and have conducted multiple interviews with former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.