Fani Willis has enough evidence to indict Donald Trump: Geoff Duncan
The Fulton County DA says decisions are ‘imminent’ in grand jury’s investigation into alleged 2020 election interference
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Georgia’s former lieutenant governor, now an on-air CNN commentator, said Fulton County DA Fani Willis has enough evidence to indict former President Donald Trump for his alleged role in interfering with the result of the state’s 2020 presidential election.
“There’s enough information for him to be indicted,” Geoff Duncan said on a Wednesday segment with his new employer. Duncan, who has been a strong Trump critic, chose not to run for re-election last year, clearing a path that led Burt Jones,. a strong Trump supporter, to win the seat this past November.
Duncan’s comments come as Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney continues to mull whether a grand jury report on alleged 2020 Georgia presidential election interference should be made public.
Trump has accused Willis of conducting a “strictly political witch hunt” as she pursues an investigation into alleged election interfering in the 2020 presidential vote count.
Last year, Willis opened a criminal investigation “into attempts to influence the administration of the 2020 Georgia General Election.” A special grand jury with subpoena power was seated in May at her request. In court filings last month, she alleged “a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”
Trump also has defended his now-famous phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger a few days after the last presidential election.
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Back in June, Raffensperger told a congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that Trump’s claims of 2020 election fraud “were false.”
Georgia’s secretary of state, along with Gabriel Sterling, the office’s chief operating officer, appeared before the Democrat-led House Select Committee when the commission resumed its round of nationally televised public hearings.
Raffensperger told the committee the Nov. 6, 2020, election went “remarkably smooth,” with average ballot-casting wait times between two to three minutes statewide.
“I felt we had a successful election,” Raffensperger said.
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During a hearing earlier this week, Willis urged the grand jury’s report not to be released so as to ensure “all future defendants be treated fairly” and that decisions on indictments “are imminent.”
“At this time, in the interest of justice and the rights of not the state, but others, we are asking that the report not be released,” she said.
The grand jury handed its report to Willis earlier this month. Willis and her team said it would be “dangerous” to release the report prematurely.
“We think immediately releasing before the district attorney has even had an opportunity to address publicly whether there will be charges are not, because there’s not been a meaningful enough amount of time to assess it, is dangerous,” said Donald Wakeford, Chief Senior District Attorney.
Willis said the grand jury heard from 75 witnesses. While her office claimed protecting future defendants’ rights constitutes secrecy, media interveners argued the report has enormous public interest and the law requires its release.
“The discomfort of the prosecuting authority in disclosing court records isn’t enough to make them sealed. It has to be significant, identifiable evidence that is going to cause a problem,” said Thomas Clyde, the attorney representing news outlets. “The faith of the public in the court system is much improved by operating in a public way.”
Anthony Kreis, a constitutional law professor at Georgia State University thought the judge was “somewhat skeptical” of the prosecutor’s arguments. He believes Georgia law is clear that the report is a public document.
“These folks have done this investigation in our, the public name, and they might have information that’s not just critical to understanding what happened but might be essential to creating public policy to prevent the undermining or overturning of a democratic election every again,” Kreis said.
McBurney said he has yet to come to a decision about sealing the report.
“There will be no rash decisions,” he said.
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