Former president Donald Trump is continuing to maintain that he is innocent of any violation of Georgia election law after the release of sections of a Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury report on his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Mr Trump pointed out that the sections of the grand jury report released on Thursday “do not even mention [former] President Trump’s name” and “have nothing to do with the [former] President because [former] President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong”.
“The President participated in two perfect phone calls regarding election integrity in Georgia, which he is entitled to do – in fact, as President, it was President Trump’s Constitutional duty to ensure election safety, security, and integrity,” they said.
The twice-impeached ex-president’s comments come just hours after Judge Robert McBurney ordered a partial version of the grand jury’s report – the report’s introduction, conclusion, and a section on the perjury allegations – to be made public, while keeping most of the report sealed for the time being to protect due process rights of witnesses and potential defendants.
In one of those released sections, made public on Thursday, grand jurors wrote that “a majority” of the memebrs believed that “perjury may have been committed by one or more” of the 75 witnesses who gave evidence during the investigation.
“The Grand Jury recommends that the District Attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling,” they added.
Although it is not yet known which of the 75 witnesses who gave evidence before the panel are thought to have lied to the grand jury, many of the witnesses who could be subject to perjury charges are counted among Mr Trump’s closest aides and allies.
The grand jury heard testimony from Mr Trump’s former personal attorney, disgraced ex-New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, his former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, as well as other Trumpworld figures involved in Mr Trump’s push to overturn his loss in the weeks leading up to the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
One such witness, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, engaged in a long court battle to block the subpoena before being ultimately compelled to testify before the grand jury.
Grand jurors also heard testimony from multiple Georgia elected officials, including Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the latter of whom was on the now-infamous call when Mr Trump demanded he “find 11,000 votes” to overturn his loss to Mr Biden.
