Parts of a highly anticipated report into whether former President Donald Trump and friends broke the law in their efforts to overturn his election defeat were made public by a Georgia judge on Thursday.
The report presents the findings of a grand jury investigation into their actions in Georgia in 2020.
It says that the grand jury thinks certain witnesses lied to the panel during their depositions.
The introduction and conclusion of the report were also made public.
According to the grand jury’s findings, which was made public on Thursday by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, “a majority of the grand jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more of the witnesses testifying before it.”
A further recommendation from the grand jury was for the county’s district attorney to “pursue suitable indictments for such crimes when the evidence is strong.”
There have been no formal charges filed against Mr. Trump or any of his aides to date.
The special grand jury may suggest that charges be filed but cannot actually issue indictments.
Throughout the history of the US, no previous president has been charged.
In its investigation into Mr. Trump and his allies’ post-election behavior, the special grand jury, which disbanded in January, spoke with numerous witnesses and notable Republicans, including Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
In Georgia in 2020, Mr. Trump was defeated by President Joe Biden by a margin of 11,779 votes.
Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state for Georgia, and Mr. Trump spoke on the phone for an hour in January 2021 during which the former president requested Mr. Raffensperger “find” the votes he needed to tip the election in his favor. This conversation served as the impetus for the grand jury investigation.
A conspiracy to send an alternative slate of Republican electors who gathered at the Georgia Capitol and falsely claimed Mr. Trump had won the state of Georgia is now part of the inquiry, which has grown over time to include false allegations of election fraud made to state lawmakers.
Election in Georgia: Fact-checking Donald Trump’s phone call
An probe into the Georgia election is focused on Rudy Giuliani.
Trump has dubbed the grand jury probe a “political witch hunt” and said his talk with Mr. Raffensperger was “great” despite his continued denial of the results of the 2020 presidential election.
