Donald Trump is responding to the emergence of portions of the final report from the work of a special grand jury on an investigation in Georgia by Fulton County’s Fani Willis into pro-Trump election meddling in 2020 by vastly misrepresenting the contents.
Predictably, he claimed he received “total exoneration,” which is not what happened. Not even half the overall report was even released, making his rush to proclaim his innocence and insist the jurors’ conclusions showed as much especially ridiculous. Members of the public — presumably including Donald Trump himself — have no idea what most of the report actually says, although a portion in the conclusion noting that jurors may have missed some things suggests they possibly also outlined some potentially condemning findings. The only portions actually available are the introduction, conclusion, and a part recommending criminal charges for perjury for some number of the witnesses who provided testimony, whose names weren’t provided in what was made available for viewing. The jurors noted on the last point they deferred to Willis’s judgment.
Those implicated could include figures close to Trump, since such individuals, from Rudy Giuliani to Mark Meadows and Lindsey Graham, were among the dozens of figures who provided jurors info. Trump, though, was persistent. “Thank you to the Special Grand Jury in the Great State of Georgia for your Patriotism & Courage,” he claimed on Truth Social. “Total exoneration. The USA is very proud of you!!!” Trump also posted a statement referring to himself in the third person that contained similar ideas and also circulated elsewhere. The jurors even unanimously disagreed with the contention there was systematic fraud in Georgia’s 2020 presidential race, so the total exoneration Trump claimed simply isn’t present.
“The Grand Jury heard extensive testimony on the subject of 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 portions released Thursday said. “We find by unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election.”
Trump is elsewhere heading to trial on at least some of the claims from writer E. Jean Carroll, who has accused the ex-president of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. A federal judge recently rejected a ploy from Trump’s corner that could have substantially delayed the trial. Trump offered to provide a DNA sample for comparison against a garment Carroll possesses in return for certain details from a past analysis already done of the article of clothing — but accepting that arrangement would have required potentially substantial additional scheduling. The relevant discovery period already ended.
