Trump’s lawyer claims Fulton County grand jury was biased.
An election lawyer who was questioned by a Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury that had recommended charges against former President Donald Trump and others claimed that it was a “completely political situation.”
“I knew coming out of there that the whole thing was a loose cannon,” election law lawyer Cleta Mitchell told The Federalist on Sept. 11, coming days after a judge released a February report from the grand jury that had recommended Ms. Mitchell face criminal charges for her activity after the 2020 election.
Overall, the grand jury had recommended that 39 people face criminal charges, while Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ultimately charged about half of them last month, including President Trump, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, lawyer Sidney Powell, and more. All have pleaded not guilty.
Other than Ms. Mitchell, the report also recommended criminal charges for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, and others. They were ultimately not charged by Ms. Willis’s office.
Recalling her interview with the grand jury, Ms. Mitchell said that “they were definitely going to recommend indicting basically all the Trump allies—it was a completely political situation—nothing to do with the law. Nothing.”
In her interview, Ms. Mitchell made reference to a controversial interview with grand jury forewoman Emily Kohrs, noting that her questioning why she took copies of an election-contest complaint with her.
“At some point, the chairwoman that you’ve seen on TV,” she said, referring to Ms. Kohrs, “asked me what I had in my hands.” She replied, “I told her what it was, and she asked if she could see it.”
“After a while, she asked ‘You say here, in the memorandum of law, that you are asking the court to award the electors to Donald Trump,’” Ms. Mitchell recalled. “I looked at her with a puzzled look on my face,” she added to The Federalist. “I said, ‘Where do you read that?’”
Explaining further, Ms. Mitchell said that Ms. Kohrs handed the paper back to her and the paragraph she had referenced to make her claim.
“Nowhere in the memorandum of law does it say that the election should be awarded to Trump,” Ms. Mitchell said, referring to the interchange. “We argued that there is precedent under Georgia law for the court to vacate the results and order a new election if we were able to establish that the evidence proved there were more illegal votes, cast in violation of state law but counted and included in the certified total, than the margin of difference between the two candidates—the remedy is a new election.”
“Alternatively, we argued that the state legislature has plenary power under the U.S. Constitution to meet and determine the electors—and I told her that,” she said, claiming the forewoman made a claim of something that is ”simply not there.”
Also in the interview, Ms. Mitchell said that she sat on the phone call between President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger shortly after the 2020 election in which Mr. Raffensperger has publicly claimed made him ”feel uncomfortable.” The secretary also alleged that he believed President Trump was trying to pressure him into invalidating what he described as legally cast votes; the former president has denied any wrongdoing.
“They recommended indicting me for the phone call,” Ms. Mitchell told The Federalist, referring to the grand jury report released last week. However, she contended the grand jury didn’t ask her “one question” about the call during her interview.
Other Details
In the report that was released last week recommending charges, the grand jury said that it did not act at the behest of Ms. Willis’ office.
They wrote that their findings to recommend charges came only from them, and they were not pressured by anyone, including the district attorney’s office. Ms. Willis, they added, “had nothing to do with the recommendations contained herein,” and the grand jury panel contained no legal experts or any defense lawyers.
“The majority of this grand jury used their collective best efforts, however, to attend every session, listen to every witness, and attempt to understand the facts as presented and the laws as explained,” they wrote.
Earlier this year, Ms. Kohrs gave several interviews to NBC News and CNN, which drew criticism from left-leaning media at the time and questioned why she would be speaking to the media following the conclusion of the grand jury’s investigation.
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