- Judge: The grand jury has expressed concern that some witnesses in the Trump investigation lied under oath.
- Under Georgia law, perjury carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1,000 fine.
- No witnesses who may have lied were identified in Thursday’s partial release of the report.
A grand jury in Georgia is concerned that a witness lied in an investigation into an attempt by former President Donald Trump and his allies to interfere in the state’s 2020 election, prompting potential indictment. is rising.
Accounts for the alleged lies could come to light on Thursday when parts of the long-awaited grand jury report on the Trump investigation are released. No witnesses have been identified and no one has been charged. But prosecutors may pursue perjury charges as a means to expand investigations, legal experts say.
Legal experts say they are rarely charged with lying to or perjurying investigators. But in recent years, federal prosecutors have convicted witnesses of lying to authorities during previous Trump investigations.
Partial Trump Grand Jury Report Coming Thursday:Georgia judge orders partial release of Trump grand jury report Thursday
“This opens up the range of potential defendants considerably,” said Clark Cunningham, a law professor at Georgia State University. is very easy.”
Georgia’s perjury charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, could be used to leverage testimony in more serious conspiracy charges that carry prison terms of up to 20 years, according to legal experts. Fulton County District Attorney Fanny Willis has hired an expert in a conspiracy case against a corrupt organization affected by extortion, and legal experts say she could pursue charges against RICO in the case. said.
a RICO charges allege suspect was involved in at least two crimes, as part of a pattern of criminal behavior. State and federal prosecutors, including Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, have used RICO laws to combat organized crime and drug trafficking for decades. and dozens of other accusations are eligible for RICO lawsuits.
Willis filed a RICO lawsuit against an Atlanta school official and an alleged gang member.
Tom Morgan, a professor of criminology at Western Carolina University and a former district attorney in DeKalb County, Georgia, said he wouldn’t pursue a single perjury charge by a grand jury because it’s difficult to prove. said the perjury charge could become part of a broader RICO litigation.
“It strengthens other counts in the RICO case because it shows a pattern of cover-up,” Morgan said. “Jurors don’t like it”
“Liar”
Penalty for perjury is punishable by imprisonment 1 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000 if convicted in Georgia State Law. It is defined as “knowingly” making a false statement under oath in a judicial proceeding about what is material to the case.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney Part of the report, due Thursday, said it “discusses concerns that some witnesses may have lied under oath while testifying to a grand jury.”
A perjury defense involves a witness believing he or she is telling the truth or making a false statement without knowing it is wrong.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, less than 30 people were prosecuted for perjury in Georgia on average each year, and less than 10 were convicted each year. Convictions per year peaked at 17 twice in the last decade, according to officials, and there were none last year.
“In my career, I’m not aware of any perjury prosecutions based on grand jury testimony,” said Morgan, who has been a prosecutor for 12 years. “It’s very rare.”
Samuel Gross, a law professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, said perjury was common but rarely prosecuted. Anecdotally in civil cases, witnesses sometimes lie in answering questions they deem irrelevant to the point of the case, Gross said. Or the defendant could lie to avoid conviction, he said.
“Perjury is really, really, really common,” Gross said, referring to a word he dislikes: “witness lies.”
In rare cases, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has convicted witnesses of lying to investigators.
Federal prosecutors have prosecuted witnesses who lied to investigators either as stand-alone indictments or in combination with broader cases.
Among the convictions in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was Trump’s National Security Advisor, former General Michael Flynn, who lied to FBI investigators. There was also something that I got. Rick Gates, Trump’s deputy campaign chairman, on charges of conspiracy against the United States by making false statements. Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos for making false statements to the FBI. Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan accused investigators of making false statements. Trump later pardoned Flynn, Papadopoulos and van der Zwaan. Gates cooperated with prosecutors.
Special Counsel John Durham’s sole conviction in an investigation into how the Russia probe began was former FBI attorney Kevin Kleinsmith, who was accused of using electronic data to help monitor suspects. That was when I pleaded guilty to falsifying emails.
The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that there was sufficient evidence to convict the DeKalb County chief of perjury and attempted extortion in a significant 2016 case, but there was a lack of evidence regarding the evidence admitted at the trial. The verdict was overturned for technical reasons. His Burrell Ellis, an executive, was charged with lying about demanding his $2,500 campaign fund from a county vendor and threatening to terminate the company’s contract with the county.
What is Fulton County investigating?
In Fulton County, Willis has asked a special purpose grand jury to investigate attempts to interfere with the 2020 election.
The inquiry covered Trump’s January 2, 2021 call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes for Trump to win the state. . Mr Trump denied wrongdoing and said the call was “perfect”. Another aspect of the investigation deals with the Trump campaign recruiting alternate presidential electors in an attempt to switch Georgia’s outcome from President Joe Biden to Trump.
The 75 witnesses subpoenaed included Trump advisers such as Giuliani. Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C.; former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, R-Ga;
Giuliani, who was said to be under investigation, testified to state lawmakers about the alleged voter fraud. Graham called Ravensperger and his staff in the weeks after the election. Gingrich advocated the strategy of letting the House decide which election Trump would have won, since the majority of state delegations were Republicans.
Giuliani, Graham, and Gingrich each deny any wrongdoing. No charges have been filed and their testimony has not been released.
more:Rudy Giuliani is now a ‘target’ of Georgia’s election interference investigation
Mr. Cunningham said if he were Willis, he would not immediately indict Mr. Trump. Instead, Cunningham said those charged with perjury could become co-witnesses against higher-level co-conspirators.
“This allows the district attorney to immediately begin working with the defendant, who may be a co-witness and may actually reveal things,” Cunningham said.
