Sen. Lindsey Graham (RS.C.), former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and conservative attorneys John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Cleta Mitchell are among those being subpoenaed. The headline-grabbing move focuses on a criminal investigation that has received less attention than the House Select Committee’s January 6 work. But some experts believe it could end up being just as important. Here are some of the most important points about the Georgia scout. What is it? The investigation, at its core, is about whether laws were broken by Trump and his team in their efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. Georgia was among the closest battleground states in the election, with President Biden winning by about two-tenths of a percentage point. Team Trump’s post-election efforts to change that outcome have been especially intense — thanks in large part to a phone call the then-president made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on January 2, 2021. In the call, which was taped, Trump pressed Raffensperger to “find” the number of votes needed to overturn Biden’s margin of victory. Raffensperger resisted Trump’s efforts and has pushed back against his false claims of voter fraud. At a Jan. 6 committee public hearing on June 21, Raffensperger insisted, “The numbers are the numbers, and the numbers don’t lie.” There have been other efforts by Trump’s team in Georgia, including a state Senate hearing in which Giuliani made allegations of fraud that have been dismissed. and a letter a Trump ally at the Justice Department wanted to send to Georgia lawmakers. The proposed letter was so absurd that even then-White House counsel Pat Cipollone reportedly described it as “a murder-suicide deal.” Authorities in Georgia, led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, are investigating those actions, among others. Willis’ office, as the New York Times noted, previously said it was investigating whether any of these acts rose to the level of “inducing election fraud, making false statements to state and local government agencies, conspiracy, extortion, breach of oath, and any involvement to violence or threats related to the administration of elections”. A grand jury began convening in May. Those proceedings are ongoing, hence this week’s subpoenas. Some experts believe the Georgia investigation poses the biggest threat to Trump The Georgia investigation could ultimately be the most dangerous legal arrow aimed at Trump. One reason is the recorded phone call with Raffensperger. In addition to the ominous request to “find” votes, the then-president also implied, in no uncertain terms, that Raffensperger was complicit in voter fraud or willfully ignored it. This, Trump warned Raffensperger, was a “criminal offense.” Raffensperger said he took Trump’s words as a threat. Last month, former Watergate prosecutor Nick Ackerman told MSNBC’s Katie Fang, “Donald Trump has zero defense in Georgia. If I had to put my money on a prosecution going forward here, it would send Donald Trump to jail — this is Georgia.” Of course, Trump and his supporters see things quite differently. “I did NOTHING wrong in Georgia, but others did,” the former president wrote on Truth Social Thursday, apparently responding to news of the subpoenas. “They CHEATED the 2020 election and they are the ones who should be investigated (and prosecuted).” The DA seems to like its chances Willis, the prosecutor leading the investigation, exudes confidence so far. In an interview with Yahoo News last month, she spoke of her willingness to subpoena even high-profile unruly witnesses. “I have been arrested as a witness in the past because they ignore my subpoena. And you don’t expect to have to. But I will,” he said. In the same interview, Willis said she felt “great” about the composition of the grand jury and emphasized the importance of maintaining the integrity of elections — something she traced to lessons she learned from her father, a one-time Black Panther turned attorney. She recalled being “dragged to the polls” as a young lady and added: “So you understand very, very early on, voting is such an inherent right… And so I understand how important it is to infringe on someone’s right to vote. So I understand the importance.” In a separate interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Willis promised to be guided only by whether the facts would support a criminal prosecution. “If we can do that, I’m going to press charges — I don’t care who it is,” he said. But if it’s Trump, any trial will be a sensation. Some key figures have already testified The Georgia grand jury has already heard testimony from other key witnesses. Raffensperger appeared before him privately in early June – before testifying publicly to the House Select Committee. According to the Associated Press, Raffensperger told a reporter on his way to the Georgia proceedings that his testimony would be “hopefully short” — but he ended up staying for more than five hours. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (D) has been subpoenaed and is expected to testify before a grand jury later this month. Kemp, like Raffensperger, resisted Trump’s push to overturn the election. Trump subsequently endorsed challengers to both men in this year’s Republican primaries. In the end, Raffensperger and Kemp both survived, handing Trump the most notable defeats of this year’s campaign so far. CNN reported in May that “several people” who were willing to serve, for fraudulent reasons, as pro-Trump electors in Georgia are also being interviewed. The CNN report said those people had been told they were “considered witnesses, rather than subjects or targets” – suggesting that Willis may be more interested in what they can reveal than in charging them. A decision on the charges could come soon — or not Willis, despite her expressions of confidence, has shifted around predicting a timeline for when the grand jury might complete its work. Suspect’s Highland Park Home Was Unstable, Police Documents Show Tap Water Was ‘Turned Off’ This Summer? This may be why In January, he told The Associated Press that he expected a decision on whether to press charges “in the first half of the year.” But in an interview with NBC News this week, Willis said she was “in no rush” to finish. He also said that if no decision was made before early voting began in the midterm elections, he would suspend operations until after the election. The grand jury, which was empaneled in May, can sit for up to a year. But a decision on whether or not to charge could come at any time.
