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The latest round of grand jury subpoenas in the Fulton County, Georgia, election fraud investigation makes it clear that the target is former President Donald Trump, according to one legal analyst.
Eight prominent figures from within Trump's personal circle were called to give testimony Tuesday by the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, including the likes of South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. The office is investigating whether or not the former president violated state laws against soliciting election fraud in 2020 when he asked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to overturn Joe Biden's victory in Georgia.
Despite the fact that Trump himself has not been subpoenaed as part of the investigation, attorney Rich Eisen told The Daily Beast in article published Friday that he is very likely the ultimate target. Eisen has previously worked with the House Judiciary Committee and worked to build the case for Trump's first impeachment.
"Trump is clearly the target of the investigation," Eisen stated. "And it's usual that either the target doesn't get a subpoena at all—or it comes at the very end of the process."
Legal experts also told The Daily Beast that the Fulton County DA's potential case against Trump could receive a sizeable boost thanks to new revelations from the House select committee's investigation of last year's Capitol riot. Due to Georgia's court laws, hearsay evidence, like the kind introduced in droves by the committee, can be presented to a grand jury when seeking an indictment.
Without that evidence, some analysts said that it would be challenging to pin charges on Trump, in the event that he genuinely believed election fraud was afoot in Georgia. However, testimony from the likes of former Attorney General Bill Barr and more to the select committee alleges that the former president was told repeatedly by multiple people that such theories were unfounded or outright false.
Another legal expert, former Manhattan prosecutor Adam S. Kaufmann, explained to The Daily Beast that these revelations make the Fulton County DA's job much easier.
"Trump is going to cloak himself in that he believed he was right," Kaufmann said. "What's going to be really important is what his advisers were saying to him at the time. The Fulton County D.A. is now able to put in front of that grand jury the Attorney General of the United States saying, 'No, Mr. President, we investigated and there was no fraud'... It makes it a lot easier."
Newsweek reached out to Trump's office for comment.
Among those subpoenaed in Georgia on Tuesday, Graham stated that he will not comply with the order, with his lawyers saying in a statement that it is a politically driven "fishing expedition." Liberal legal pundit and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, conversely, argued that Graham is in fact concerned with self-incriminating himself under oath.
About the writer
Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more