Several high-profile Trump allies, including three current and former senators, were not charged over an election interference case in Georgia despite a jury’s recommendation.
A report released on Friday revealed that a special grand jury investigating efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results recommended charges against 39 people, as opposed to the nineteen who were eventually charged.
Those not charged despite the recommendation include Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and former senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.
A spokesperson for Mr Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, criticised the release in a statement, calling it “biased” and “un-American."
Mr Perdue and Ms Loeffler were sitting senators who had failed to win enough votes in the November 2020 general election and were forced into a January 2021 runoff, which they lost.
In the weeks after the election, they were vocal in their criticism of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, calling for his resignation.
All eighteen defendants who were charged, including Trump, have pleaded not guilty.
The report sheds light on the grand jury’s thinking in bringing charges, showing the breakdown of each vote to recommend charges against those involved in the investigation.
While nearly all were in agreement to charge the former US president, there was a more pronounced split about whether to charge the senators.
“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," the report states.
Of the 19 people ultimately indicted, only one was not included in the special grand jury’s recommendations.
This is a former White House aide who served as the director of Mr Trump’s election day operations, Michael Roman.
The panel spent seven months hearing from some 75 witnesses before completing a report in December with recommendations for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on charges.
Ms Willis had said she needed the panel’s power to compel the testimony of witnesses who might otherwise not have been willing to appear, in order to decide charges.
Many of those indicted — including former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows — are known to have testified before the special grand jury.
However, Mr Trump was never called and did not appear before the panel.
