Trump lawyers ask to throw out grand jury report on 2020 Georgia election interference

(CNN) — Lawyers for former US President Donald Trump have asked a judge to throw out the final report and evidence from a special jury in Georgia that spent months investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to sway the 2020 election.

Trump’s attorneys also asked that the judge disqualify the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office from overseeing the investigation, according to new court documents.

“President Donald J. Trump hereby proposes to reject the report [jurado investigador de propósito especial] Prevent SPGJ and any evidence derived from it from being used under unconstitutional law, through illegal and unconstitutional process, by a disbarred district attorney who violated procedural rules and acted without consideration of the gravity of the circumstances. and the constitutional rights of those involved,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the filing.

The motion to quash the special grand jury and disqualify the district attorney’s office from bringing any case in the case is Trump’s first attempt to intervene in the long-running investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis, a Democrat. It also reveals the aggressive approach Trump’s legal team is taking to fight potential charges the former president could face.

So far, no one has been charged in Georgia.

Willis’ office is considering filing fraud and conspiracy charges, CNN reported Monday.

CNN has sought comment from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.

Trump’s attorneys’ wide-ranging objections, a series of decisions by the judge overseeing the grand jury, the conduct of the Fulton County district attorney and various interviews conducted last month by the foreman of the special grand jury.

A special grand jury investigating Trump and his associates completed its work in December, and the judge overseeing the panel made public excerpts of the report in February. After the partial release, one of the group’s leaders went on a media tour, during which he noted that approximately a dozen people had been referred for criminal charges.

Speaker Emily Kors, who declined to say whether she had recommended criminal charges against Trump, told CNN last month: “There may be some names on that list that you wouldn’t expect. But the big name that everyone is asking me about, I don’t think you’d be surprised.”

Special juries in Georgia can issue subpoenas and collect evidence such as documents and testimony, but cannot issue indictments. Instead, they write a final report that includes recommendations about whether someone should face criminal charges. It is up to the District Collector to decide whether to obtain a charge sheet from the regular sitting Magistrates.

Trump’s lawyers raised objections to several issues related to the special grand jury process, including a series of interviews with the president and recent media interviews with other members of the special jury who spoke anonymously. Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Trump’s attorneys argued in a new filing that “the results of the investigation cannot be relied upon and must therefore be suppressed in view of the constitutional violations.” “The president’s public comments violate notions of fundamental fairness and due process and taint a future grand jury panel.”

The Trump team also argued that Willis’ office should have been disqualified from overseeing the entire case when it blocked now from investigating Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Trump ally who worked as a fraudulent voter after the 2020 election. Interviews by Willis.

“The resulting prejudicial taint cannot be removed from the results of the investigation or any future prosecution,” Trump’s lawyers wrote, adding that the media interviews “violate due process rules and constitute forensic misconduct, and their activities on social media create the appearance of misconduct, which heightens the need for impeachment.”

Trump’s legal team raised objections to how Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney oversaw the grand jury and to interviews it granted after the panel’s work. CNN was among the news outlets that interviewed McBurney.

According to Trump’s lawyers, “the overseeing judge made inappropriate and prejudicial comments regarding the conduct under investigation, as well as potential Fifth Amendment violations of the witnesses.” “He misapplied the law and then denied appellate review, knowing that his application of the law had major implications for the constitutionality of the trial.”

They argued that McBurney erred in characterizing the special grand jury as a criminal investigative body that weighed too heavily with other judges to compel out-of-state witnesses to comply with subpoenas they received to appear before the panel.