Several high-profile Trump allies and advisers have been asked to testify in the grand jury investigation of the Flynn-Powder attack

They join a string of other high-profile Trump allies and advisers who have been called to testify in the probe. Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Trump attorney who’s been told he could face criminal charges in the probe, testified in August. Attorneys John and Kenneth have testified before the panel. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s attempt to fight his subpoena is pending in a federal appeals court. MarkMeadows is a former White House chief of staff.

Now that the grand jury is finished, it’s up to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to review the recommendations and make charging decisions. Willis’ decisions in this case will reverberate in the 2024 presidential campaign and beyond.

During the heated Oval Office meeting, CNN previously reported, Flynn and Powell floated outrageous suggestions about overturning the election, three weeks after Trump pardoned Flynn.

The information made public by the U.S. House committee that is investigating the attack is the basis for the petition.

Compelling testimony from witnesses who don’t live in Georgia requires Willis to use a process that involves getting judges in the states where they live to order them to appear. The petitions she filed Friday are essentially precursors to subpoenas.

Post-Correction Investigations of the 2020 Midterm Election Campaign: Attorney Robert Flynn vs. District Attorney Robert McBurney

CNN previously reported that the district attorney aims to quickly wrap up the grand jury’s work after the midterm elections and could begin issuing indictments as early as December, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Flynn didn’t immediately respond to email and phone messages seeking comment, and his lawyer also didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment. Gingrich referred questions to his attorney, who declined to comment. Herschmann could not be reached immediately.

Willis has said she plans to take a monthlong break from public activity in the case leading up to the November midterm election, which is one month from Saturday.

Each of the petitions filed Friday seeks to have the potential witnesses appear in November after the election. The process for getting testimony from out-of-state witnesses can take a while, so it’s possible that she’s just put the wheels in motion for activity to resume.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury, signed off on the petitions, certifying that each person whose testimony is sought is a “necessary and material” witness for the investigation.

It says he was involved in the plan to run television ads that were false and encouraged members of the public to contact state officials to challenge the results because of those false claims.

The petition says Flynn spoke about Trump placing military capabilities in swing states in an interview with newsmax, and that he also said in the interview that he would re-run an election in each of those states.

He also met with Trump, attorney Sidney Powell and others at the White House on Dec. 18, 2020, for a meeting that, according to news reports, “focused on topics including invoking martial law, seizing voting machines, and appointing Powell as special counsel to investigate the 2020 election,” Willis wrote.

She wrote that Herschmann had conversations with several people who were associated with the Trump campaign, including Giuliani, and that they tried to influence the results of the 2020 elections in Georgia and elsewhere. He had a discussion with the author about concerns in Georgia.

She identified Penrose as “a cyber investigations, operations and forensics consultant” who worked with Powell and others known to be associated with the Trump campaign in late 2020 and early 2021.

He also communicated with Powell and others regarding an agreement to hire data solutions firm SullivanStrickler to copy data and software from voting system equipment in Coffee County, about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta, as well as in Michigan and Nevada, Willis wrote. The email and phone message were not answered by Penrose.

Willis wrote in a petition seeking Lee’s testimony that he was part of an effort to pressure elections worker Ruby Freeman, who was the subject of false claims about election fraud in Fulton County. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/08/1127637799/flynn-gingrich-testimony-georgia-election-probe

Special Grand Juries in Georgia and the Battle for the Ex-President’s Contempt of Congress (I): The Censored Case

Special grand juries are impaneled in Georgia to investigate complex cases with large numbers of witnesses. They can compel evidence and subpoena witnesses for questioning and, unlike regular grand juries, can also subpoena the target of an investigation to appear before it.

When its investigation is complete, the special grand jury issues a final report and can recommend action. It’s then up to the district attorney to decide whether to ask a regular grand jury for an indictment.

The vote to target the ex- President will be seen by many observers as a performance of theatricality that resembles a television courtroom drama.

The House January 6 committee doesn’t have a timetable for those battles, they have dragged on for years. The Justice Department will not publicly engage in any activity this close to an election, and voters could well hand control of the House to Republicans in November.

CNN’s John King said that they were trying to make the case that Trump is Oz. A little guy behind a curtain tries to pull a machine, but he presents himself as all powerful.

There istempt. The full House, which is controlled by Democrats until at least January, could vote to hold him in contempt of Congress, something it’s done with several other uncooperative witnesses.

There is a prosecution. A minimum 30 days in jail is what Trump could potentially face if he is found guilty. Bannon will be sentenced for failing to comply with the House subpoena later this month.

When Donald Trump walked into the White House and was arrested: Where did he go? How did the Supreme Court respond to a comment by Conway on CNN?

“None of that is going to happen,” the Trump critic and conservative lawyer George Conway predicted during an appearance on CNN Thursday. “This is about laying a marker. This is about something being said from Trump.

Conway did point out the Supreme Court has already made clear where it stands on Trump’s status as a former president when it ignored his attempt to block the National Archives from sharing information with the committee.

When he waspresident, the Supreme Court held off on a decision in 2020 about House subpoenas for Trump’s finances. Lower courts were told to consider separation of powers in cases about the president’s private information. The Oversight Committee and Trump have an agreement to get access to the documents.

Cheney, who serves as vice chair of the House committee, singled out people who invoked the Fifth Amendment or refused to testify rather than elaborate on their communications with Trump on January 6, 2021, including:

In 1974, Gerald Ford testified in public about his decision to pardon Richard Nixon.

President Thomas Jefferson did not appear at the trial because he was subpoenaed, but he was still charged with treason. Jefferson did ultimately provide some documents. The man was eventually acquitted.

The 2016 New York Investigative Committee’s First Investigation of the January 6, 2021, US Capitol Hill Attack: What have we learned in the last 10 years?

The Supreme Court did rule New York investigators could get access to the financial documents. A criminal trial for Trump’s company will take place this month.

New York Attorney General Letitia James subpoenaed him in her civil inquiry into his business practices. He invoked the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination during that deposition.

On Thursday morning, New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a state court to block the Trump Organization from moving assets and continuing to perpetrate what she has alleged in a civil lawsuit is a decades-long fraud.

That means the January 6 committee must plan to wrap up all of its work by January 3, 2023, when the next Congress begins and the January 6 committee may be no more.

The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol Hill insurrection said former President Donald Trump has “failed to comply” with its subpoena for documents and testimony.

The need for this committee to hear from Donald Trump goes further than our fact- finding. This is a question about accountability to the American people. He needs to be held accountable. Thompson said he is required to answer for his actions.

The developments that could hurt Trump the most happened off stage. They show the legal thicket surrounding the ex- President who hasn’t been charged with anything and the distance still left to run to account for his erratic presidency and exit from power.

The political career of Trump has never been done before, and his re emergence is posing new questions with the potential to damage the country’s political institutions.

The court’s decision steers the court away from the political fray at a time when approval ratings of the 6-3 conservative-leaning court have dipped to new lows and liberals, including President Joe Biden, have attacked the legitimacy of the institution. During the House select committee’s investigation of the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack, the order was issued.

On Tuesday, Trump’s team sought emergency intervention from the appeals court. Three judges from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals have quickly responded to the decision from Howell, but they are still considering whether to put the decision on hold.

For all the political drama that surrounds the continuing revelations over one of the darkest days in modern American history on January 6, it’s the showdown over classified documents that appears to represent the ex-President’s most clear cut and immediate threat of true criminal exposure.

While television stations beamed blanket coverage of the committee hearing, more news broke that hinted at further grave legal problems the ex-President could face from another Justice Department investigation – also into January 6. The DOJ’s criminal probe is able to draw up indictments.

An appeal over whether former Pence chief counsel Greg Jacob and chief of staff Marc Short should have been forced to answer questions about Trump interactions around January 6. Both people who went to the DC grand jury on the same day refused to give any answers because they were afraid of what Trump might say about the presidency. Court orders prompted them to testify a second time, seeking out more testimony from them in October last year, CNN previously confirmed. They appeared at the grand jury again. The Trump team still has filed an appeal of Howell’s decisions.

CNN reported that Trump’s lawyers hired two people to comb through several of his properties, including Trump Tower in New York, the Bedminster golf club, an office location in Florida and a storage unit in Florida, where two classified documents were found. The documents were handed over to the FBI. No other documents with classified markings were found during the search of the four Trump’s properties.

At the time, Trump’s attorneys had offered to let federal investigators observe the search at his Bedminster property, but that offer was declined. Given the Justice Department’s response, Trump lawyers did not make a similar offer for the search of the other properties. It would be quite unusual for the Justice department to observe searches that are not conducted by law enforcement.

Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney General Garland, is in charge of the criminal investigations into the retention of national defense information at Mar-a-Lago. The situation related to the Mar-a-Lago documents and the Trump team’s response to the May subpoena has become an important aspect of the probe, which includes prosecutors’ accusations of obstruction of justice.

It is separate from the state-level criminal investigation in Georgia related to efforts by Trump and his allies to upend the 2020 election results there and another in New York centered around the former president’s alleged role in hush money payments to an adult film star.

Reply to Budowich’s Critique of the Unselect Committee Investigation of the Jan. 6 Attack on the Former President Donald Trump

As always, Trump came out fighting on Thursday, one of those days when the seriousness of a crisis he is facing can often be gauged by the vehemence of the rhetoric he uses to respond.

First Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich mocked the unanimous 9-0 vote in the select committee to subpoena the former President for documents and testimony.

Pres Trump won’t be intimidated by their rhetoric or actions. Trump-endorsed candidates will sweep the Midterms, and America First leadership & solutions will be restored,” Budowich wrote on Twitter.

Then the former President weighed in on his Truth Social network with another post that failed to answer the accusations against him, but that was clearly designed to stir a political reaction from his supporters.

Why didn’t the Unselect Committee summon me to appear months ago? The final moments of their meeting, why did they not act sooner? Because the Committee is a total ‘BUST,’” Trump wrote.

But any effort to follow a similar path if Trump refuses to testify could take months and involve protracted legal battles. It’s unclear whether the Justice Department would consider this a good investment, especially given the advanced state of its own January 6 probe. And there’s a good chance the committee will be swept into history anyway, with Republicans favored to take over the House majority following the midterm elections.

But the committee’s Republican vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, said the investigation was no longer just about what happened on January 6, but about the future.

The Wyoming lawmaker who lost to a Trump-backed challenger won’t be returning to Congress after the election, but she did condemn the conduct of the former President.

The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack closed its hearing on Thursday by taking a vote on whether to subpoena former President Donald Trump to testify before them.

High Sensitivity, Low Cost, High-Cost, and High-Dimensional Rulemaking by a Special Master in the Eleventh Circuit

She said that they were obligated to seek answers directly from the man who made it happen. “And every American is entitled to those answers, so we can act now to protect our republic.”

The Justice Department called the records “extraordinarily sensitive” and asked the court to stay out of the dispute.

Courts should be cautious when looking at records that could endanger national security even by a judge alone in chambers, according to this Court. DOJ wrote earlier this week, citing a past case.

Cannon’s decision to block DOJ’s access to documents marked classified and seized from Mar-a-Lago has slowed down the DOJ’s ability to work on the case and given Trump a runway to sharpen his defenses.

A panel of judges on the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals, however, acting upon a request from the Justice Department, agreed to freeze portions of those orders while the legal dispute plays out.

Trump believes that he may have had a right as a former president to have certain government documents. He claimed that the appeals court had exceeded its authority in ruling against him.

“The Eleventh Circuit lacked jurisdiction to review, much less stay, an interlocutory order of the District Court providing for the Special Master to review materials seized from President Trump’s home,” Trump told the Supreme Court last week.

The appeals court order will affect Raymond Dearie, who was appointed as the special master, in ways that will slow work.

“Any limit on the comprehensive and transparent review of materials seized in the extraordinary raid of a President’s home erodes public confidence in our system,” the filing said.

US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, “fundamentally erred” in appointing a special master in the first place and noted the Justice Department is appealing that decision in the lower courts.

The Trump-Biden Collision: How Trump’s Politics Arises, And What Will He Do When He Comes to Power

The nation is nowhere near working through the political and legal trauma of Trump’s time in office. The recent events may be an indication that Americans will be in for more turmoil.

Trump dropped his clearest hint yet Saturday of a new White House run at a moment when he’s on a new collision course with the Biden administration, the courts and facts.

Trump’s current prominence on the political scene was already highly unusual. One-term presidents are not likely to stay in the spotlight for long. It is a testament to the firm hold he has on the GOP that he is still a key player nearly two years after losing reelection. Trump seems to have plenty of juice despite the fact that there is growing talk about whether he can convince some GOP primary voters to vote for him.

Those controversies also show that given the open legal and political loops involving the ex-President, a potential 2024 presidential campaign rooted in his claims of political persecution could create even more upheaval than his four years in office.

And while fierce differences are emerging between Democrats and Republicans over policy on the economy, abortion, foreign policy and crime in the 2022 midterms – while concerns about democracy often rank lower for voters – there is every chance the coming political period revolves mostly around the ex-President’s past and future.

Trump’s men and women are increasing their activity. Steve Bannon will expose the Biden regime during an appeal against a prison sentence handed down for disobeying a congressional subpoena. Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is calling on the Supreme Court to block an attempt to force him to testify in an investigation in Georgia over Trump’s election stealing effort.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/24/politics/donald-trump-circus-analysis/index.html

The New York Times reports Kari Lake is worried about a possible tit-for-tat impeachment after the 2020 election

In Arizona, one of the ex-President’s favorite candidates, GOP gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake – a serial spreader of voter fraud falsehoods – is again raising doubts about the election system. Lake is worried that it will be not completely fair.

One of the most powerful pro-Trump Republicans, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the party’s number three leader in the House, told the New York Post last week that impeachment of Biden was “on the table.” South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace, however, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday she did not want to see tit-for-tat impeachment proceedings after Trump was twice impeached. She said she was against the process being “weaponized.” But when asked whether Biden had committed impeachable offenses, she said: “That is something that would have to be investigated.”

Republicans in Washington are likely to increase their presence after the elections. Scores of Trump-endorsed candidates are running on a platform of his 2020 election fraud falsehoods, raising questions over whether they will accept results should they lose their races in just over two weeks.

The ex-president is in a situation where he is waiting on his advisers, who are preparing for several different possibilities, including an indictment in New York. At times, Trump has celebrated because he thinks an indictment could supercharge his campaign but has also complained it would be “unfair.” The former reality show star and tabloid fixture has entertained the idea of making a media spectacle of himself if he is charged.

The Democrats tried to return Trump to the political spotlight. President Joe Biden equated MAGA followers with “semi-fascism” and some campaigns have tried to scare critical suburban voters by warning pro-Trump candidates are a danger to democracy.

The Case for a Frozen 2024 White House: The Case of Kash Patel before a High-Dimensional Judge

Spikes in gasoline prices appear to be a far more serious worry for voters than raging inflation, which could make for poor news for the party in control of Washington.

At a rally on Saturday, the ex President said that he will probably have to run for president again.

“It may take multiple days, and it will be done with a level of rigor and discipline and seriousness that it deserves,” Cheney told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“This isn’t going to be, you know, his first debate against Joe Biden and the circus and the food fight that that became. This is a far too serious set of issues.”

The committee has taken most depositions behind closed doors and on video and used testimony throughout its highly produced presentations. Only its most sympathetic witnesses have appeared in person. The narrative created by this has helped create a powerful picture of the terrible actions of Trump but it has also deprived viewers of seeing the witnesses being cross examined. This has made it difficult to assess whether the committee’s case would stand up to more rigorous evidentiary requirements in a court of law.

The prospect of video testimony over an intense period of days or hours is likely to be unappealing to the former President because it would be harder for him to dictate the terms of the exchanges and control how his testimony might be used.

If there is evidence a crime was committed, Garland would face a dilemma over whether the national interest lay in implementing the law to its full extent or whether the consequences of prosecuting a former commander in chief in a fractious political atmosphere could tear the country apart.

A former president could potentially be indicted for the first time in a long time if the country goes to the political and judicial precipice. The ex-commander in chief’s 2024 White House bid would make this historic twist even more inflammatory and amount to his greatest stress test yet of America’s legal and governing institutions and its brittle unity.

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Donald Trump adviser Kash Patel to testify before a grand jury investigating the handling of federal records at Mar-a-Lago, according to two people familiar with the investigation.

The people said that the Judge of the DC District Court granted immunity to him from prosecution when he provided information to the investigation.

The court’s decision is under seal, coming after a confidential proceeding where the Justice Department subpoenaed Patel to the grand jury in October. At that time, he declined to answer questions by asserting his Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination.

As CNN has previously reported, Patel is one of a handful of advisers around Trump after his presidency who could have legal risk related to the Mar-a-Lago situation, according to court records and sources, though it’s unclear if he is a target of the Justice Department probe.

He served as a national security and defense official during the Trump administration, and this summer became one of Trump’s designees to interact with the National Archives and the Justice Department as both agencies have tried to repossess classified records Trump kept from his presidency. In interviews with conservative media, he claimed that he had seen Trump declassify records before leaving the presidency, and argued that he should be able to release classified information.

At a time when the Justice Department is inquiring into national security records involving President Joe Biden and Vice President Mike Pence, the Mar-a-Lago documents case has continued to be investigated by a grand jury.

The committee will look into the former President’s noncompliance and the litigation in the days ahead, according to the statement.

The committee has previously held witnesses in contempt of Congress for defying the panel’s subpoenas but has little ability to force compliance with the subpoena quickly through the courts.

Trump’s legal team had challenged subpoenas issued by special counsel Jack Smith demanding testimony and documents from Meadows, the former president’s White House chief of staff, as well as several others by asserting executive privilege.

“Given the timing and nature of your letter – without any acknowledgment that Mr. Trump will ultimately comply with the subpoena – your approach on his behalf appears to be a delay tactic,” Thompson wrote.

“The truth is that Donald Trump, like several of his closest allies, is hiding from the Select Committee’s investigation and refusing to do what more than a thousand other witnesses have done,” Thompson and Cheney wrote. Donald Trump wanted to block the transfer of power and overturn the presidential election. He is obligated to provide answers to the American people.”

A source familiar with the order told CNN that a judge asked Donald Trump’s attorneys to turn over the names of the people who searched his properties late last year.

“The Government has not publicly disclosed any request to hold the former President or his representatives in contempt. The government can’t confirm or deny whether it made any request, according to the DOJ. “To the extent any such request exists, it and any related proceedings would be in connection with secret grand jury proceedings protected from disclosure.”

Investigations that implicate government officials often beget sealed court proceedings, because confidential grand jury witnesses become more likely to assert privileges that prompt prosecutors to ask judges to compel more answers, criminal law experts say.

Two people who found two classified documents in a Florida storage facility for Donald Trump have testified before a federal grand jury in Washington that’s looking at the former president’s handling of national security records at his Mar-a-Lago residence, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

The two individuals who were hired to search four of Trump’s properties last fall were each interviewed for about three hours in separate appearances last week.

They were hired to search Trump’s Bedminster golf club, Trump Tower in New York, an office location in Florida and a storage unit in Florida last October, months after the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. The extent of information they offered the grand jury remains unclear, though they didn’t decline to answer any questions, one of the sources said.

The case was sealed because the investigation found evidence that conversations between Trump and his lawyer Evan Corcoran may have been part of a crime related to the Mar-a-Lago document boxes.

The investigators are trying to determine if there is an electronic paper trail with the classified documents, another source said.

The Biden and Pence situations have been markedly different. While they also highlight sloppiness around the tracking of classified papers, both Biden’s and Pence’s teams have readily handed them back to intelligence officials.

Grand jury challenges to Donald Trump’s attorney in the 2020 Mar-A-Lago investigation: How special counsel Jack Smith confronts a Miami grand jury

Special counsel Jack Smith and prosecutors who now work for him have used the federal grand jury nearly weekly to question witnesses in the Mar-a-Lago investigation.

CNN’s sources said the Justice Department wants a court to order Evan Corcoran, Donald Trump’s attorney, to give additional testimony.

To overcome the shield of attorney-client privilege, prosecutors alleged in writing to the judge that the former president used his attorney in furtherance of a crime or fraud, according to one source.

The attorney testified before the grand jury for four hours and is the third attorney to do so. He has not yet appeared a second time, and it remains to be seen if he ultimately does.

It was unclear on Tuesday whether the Justice Department has developed new evidence to argue there was criminal planning, or whether prosecutors are resting on the same arguments made when prosecutors sought a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago last year. They had reason to believe federal records were concealed within the beach club, and that they have been looking into the case of mishandled national security records.

A Trump representative said that the move was a witch hunt against the president in order to keep him out of the White House.

In June, Corcoran drafted a statement that said there were no classified documents at Trump’s Florida residence.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s office is seeking documents and testimony related to January 6, and Meadows received the subpoena sometime in January, the source said. An attorney did not respond to a question.

Meadows was involved in the infamous phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and in a December 2020 White House meeting about election fraud claims. In Georgia, a site was visited where an audit of the election was being held. Meadows sent emails to officials at the Justice Department regarding the fraud allegations.

Sources and court records show that Jack Smith is engaged in at least eight secret court battles that attempt to uncover details about Donald Trump’s actions after the 2020 election and his handling of classified material.

The outcome of these disputes could have far-reaching implications, as they revolve around a 2024 presidential candidate and could lead courts to shape the law around the presidency, separation of powers and attorney-client confidentiality in ways they’ve never done before.

The sheer number of grand jury challenges from potential witnesses is both a reflection of the scope of the special counsel’s investigation and a hallmark of Trump’s ultra-combative style in the face of investigations.

By comparison, the grand jury investigation into Trump had a lot of sealed proceedings where investigators were allowed to ask more questions, as well as the Whitewater investigation which had seven similar sealed cases.

A number of cases are still pending in either the DC Circuit or the Chief Judge’s court. The typical arcs of cases that arise during the grand jury process are where prosecutors sometimes use the court to enforce their subpoenas.

The Secret Grand Grand-Penrose Challenge Revisited: Attorney Confidential Information From Pence During Trump’s Whitewater Investigations

Pence ultimately rebuffed those calls for him to disturb Congress’ plans – a decision he stands by now. But he also has announced his plans to fight the subpoena in Smith’s probe.

“I think we are in extraordinary times. Neil Eggleston was a White House counsel who argued for executive privilege during the Whitewater investigation, and he thinks President Trump is still asserting the theories after the court has said no.

The court in DC ruled that privilege claims wouldn’t hold up when a federal grand jury needed information, so witnesses didn’t try to refuse to testify. But in the Trump investigations, witnesses aligned continue to test whether he still may have special confidentiality protections.

An appeal over whether former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone and deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin could decline to answer questions about direct conversations with Trump from the end of his presidency. Both men cited various privileges when they testified to the grand jury in September, but were forced to appear a second time and give more answers after court rulings in November and December, CNN previously confirmed. They have already testified, but Trump’s team appealed.

Following the seizure of Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Scott Perry’s cell phone in August in the January 6 investigation, lawyers for the congressman challenged the Justice Department’s ability to access data taken from the phone, citing protection around Congress under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. According to the court record, an appeals court panel has blocked the DOJ from seeing the records that were kept from investigators. The case is set for oral arguments on February 23 at the appeals court in Washington. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is attempting to unseal documents related to the case.

Howell has released redacted versions of two attorney confidentiality decisions she made last year giving prosecutors access to emails between Perry and three lawyers – John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark and Ken Klukowski – before January 6, 2021.

Howell separately denied Clark’s attempt to keep from investigators a draft of his autobiography that discussed his efforts at the Justice Department on behalf of Trump before January 6. Clark had tried to mark the draft outline about his life as an attorney work product.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/16/politics/secret-grand-jury-special-counsel-trump/index.html

The Grand Jury’s Investigation into the Special Counsel’s Office: How Many Indictments Are Needed, and How Many indictments?

There are questions as to how much transparency the courts will provide regarding the grand jury cases in the special counsel’s office.

They argued that the intense public interest in the cases merited more secrecy than other records can provide.

The foreperson of the grand jury in Atlanta told CNN on Tuesday that it is proposing multiple indictments and that the big name may be on the list.

Emily said she couldn’t imagine doing it for eight months and not knowing what to do with the evidence. “It’s not a short list. It’s not.”

She continued, “There may be some names on that list that you wouldn’t expect. I don’t think you will be surprised by the big name that everybody keeps asking me about.

Kohrs declined later Tuesday to disclose exactly how many indictments the special grand jury recommended be brought as part of the investigation, saying only that she believes it is more than 12.

Asked by CNN’s Kate Bolduan on “Erin Burnett OutFront” whether the number of people was “more than a dozen,” Kohrs replied: “I believe so. That’s probably a good assumption.”

Grand jury report of the 2016 Georgia presidential campaign: Trump denies any wrongdoing, and she is not ashamed of the allegations of political bias

According to the final report of the grand jury, there were perjury charges justified for some witnesses. It was reported that the grand jury, though it did not provide names, recommended multiple indictments.

Trump, who has launched his 2024 campaign for the White House, denies any criminal wrongdoing. He has claimed that he won the election in Georgia because of political bias, and he still promotes the false claim.

“Yes, I am positive I have heard the president on the phone more than once,” she said. CNN reported that there was at least one more call by Trump to a Georgia state official.

Despite Trump’s claims that prosecutors are liberal zealots, she believed that they acted in a non-partisan fashion and tried to keep proceedings fair.

She told CNN in a phone interview that she did not believe there was any bias on the part of the team. “I know for a fact that they were always very worried about accidentally coloring our opinions one way or the other … They told us that they didn’t want their opinions to affect our views or our knowledge.

I would hope to see her take a major action to do something about it. “There are too many times in recent history that seem to me like someone has gotten called out for something that people had a problem with, and nothing ever happens.”

Is it a lot of time that something actually happens? I would love to see something actually happen. Don’t make me take back my faith in the system,” Kohrs said. “The only thing I would be disappointed in, at this point, is if this whole thing just disappears. It would be the only thing that would make me sad.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/21/politics/fulton-county-trump-grand-jury-foreperson-ebof/index.html

A Foreperson’s View of Executive Privilege and the Investigative Investigation into the 2020 Congressional Candidate Attack at the US Capitol

The foreperson told CNN that she was surprised that witnesses like Mike Flynn, the former national security adviser, were friendly even though they invoked privilege and refused to answer questions.

“Some of those people fought not to be there, but once they were there, they were willing to have a conversation, and I respect the hell out of that,” Kohrs said. “Flynn was honestly very nice in person. He was a very nice man. He was intriguing. I did not recall him saying anything earth-shattering.

Sources tell CNN that former President Donald Trump has petitioned a federal court to stop his former VP from speaking to a grand jury about certain matters that are protected by executive privilege.

It is unclear how long it will take for the sealed proceedings to unfold, but it’s possible that the district court resolves the dispute, or that it will be appealed to a federal appeals court and perhaps, eventually, to the US Supreme Court.

The investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election ahead of the January 6, 2021, attack at the US Capitol is one of two ongoing probes overseen by special counsel Smith.

The congressional certification vote was held before the election because of pressure from Trump and his allies. As president of the Senate, Pence was tasked with presiding over the certification proceedings.

The former vice president claims that because he was acting as president of the Senate at the time, he is protected by the Speech or Debate Clause, which protects lawmakers from certain law enforcement actions targeted at their legislative conduct.

The Justice Department is arguing that it has evidence that Trump committed a crime, for the first time, according to a finding made part of a major ruling Friday. The prosecutors were able to overcome the right to shield discussions with his lawyers from being covered under attorney-client privilege.

Trump is being investigated by a grand jury in Washington, but he hasn’t been charged. One source said prosecutors had relied on videotapes to argue their case.

The judges of the DC Circuit demanded that prosecutors respond by 6 am on Wednesday, and that Trump’s lawyers give a response by midnight.

An increasingly circus-like atmosphere inWashington, New York and Florida has made the drama about cases more tense and confusing and has taken the focus away from something questionable. And a mounting partisan uproar led by House Republicans, meanwhile, appears designed to blur the facts, distract from the evidence and fuel Trump’s claim he’s the victim of an endless political vendetta.

Norm Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and CNN legal analyst, said the piercing of this bedrock legal protection was highly unusual and an ill omen for Trump, since Corcoran’s testimony could be used to suggest he committed a crime. That could include the handling of classified documents as well as obstruction of justice. Eisen told CNN on Wednesday that it worsened what was probably Trump’s most federal legal peril.

Cohen’s conviction for lying to Congress could undermine his credibility, so he is seen as a weak link in any trial. Bragg would have to decide if Cohen was trustworthy in order to proceed to a grand jury or trial. “It’s very much in their interests, to take a beat, step back and decide,” he said. “This kind of thing happens all the time, as prosecutors decide whether and how to bring cases.”

The Democrat Partisan: Donald Trump’s Case against the Manhattan District Attorney in the 2016 U.S. Sen. Steve Bannon-White House Investigation

The GOP presidential race is getting more intense as Trump lashes out at a competitor who has not yet declared his candidacy, just as the former president’s legal problems are getting worse. Trump said in a Wednesday statement that Ron is an average Governor but the best in public relations in the country. “But it is all a Mirage, just look at the facts and figures, they don’t lie—And we don’t want Ron as our President!”

One of the advisers told CNN the governor can’t afford to be overlooked. He clearly made the decision to push back.

DeSantis is not the only Republican seeking a political opening. The grassroots voters that sent the GOP to Washington in the last election demonstrated the strength of Donald Trump by attacking the Manhattan district attorney. As Trump once did, they are using the power of government to try to prevent him from being held to account and to defuse his legal threats. GOP House committee chairs have demanded Bragg testify and pledged to look into whether the probe used federal funds.

“There is no factual or legal basis or substance to any case against President Trump. The deranged Democrats and their comrades in the mainstream media are corrupting the legal process and weaponizing the justice system in order to manipulate public opinion, because they are clearly losing the political battle.”