The Gingrich-Flynn Insight and the Giuliani-Meadows Probing Challenge to the 2016 November Referendum

A number of high-profile Trump advisers have been summoned to testify in the probe. Rudy Giuliani testified in August that he could face criminal charges in the investigation. The attorneys have appeared before the panel. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s attempt to fight his subpoena is pending in a federal appeals court. And paperwork has been filed seeking testimony from others, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed petitions in court seeking to have Gingrich and Flynn, as well as former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann and others, testify next month before a special grand jury that’s been seated to aid her investigation.

During the heated Oval Office meeting, CNN previously reported, Flynn and Powell floated outrageous suggestions about overturning the election, three weeks after Trump pardoned Flynn.

The petition says Gingrich was involved in a plan to have Republican fake electoral votes sign certificates saying that they were the state’s official electors even though Democrat Joe Biden had won.

The former Trump White House lawyer and at least two other individuals have valuable insight into the grand jury that she wants to share with it, so she has filed court paperwork to attempt to issue subpoenas.

According to sources familiar with the situation, the district attorney hopes to wrap up the grand jury work after the elections, and begin issuing indictments around the end of the year.

The Flynn Witnesses for a Special Grand Jury of the Fulton County Circuit Court Judge Robert McBurney: Putting the Wheels in Motion

Flynn didn’t immediately respond to email and phone messages seeking comment, and his lawyer also didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment. Gingrich referred the questions to his attorney. Herschmann could not immediately be reached.

She will take a monthlong break from public activity in the case leading up to the November elections.

Each of the petitions filed Friday seeks to have the potential witnesses testify after the election. The process of securing testify from out-of-state witnesses can be long and it seems that she is putting the wheels in motion for activity to resume.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury, signed off on the petitions, certifying that each person whose testimony is sought is a “necessary and material” witness for the investigation.

He was a part of a plan to run television advertisements that “repeated and relied on false claims about fraud in the 2020 election” to encourage people to contact state officials to challenge the election results because of those claims.

A petition asking for Flynn’s testimony states that he spoke in an interview with Newsmax and that he said Trump could take military capabilities and place them in swing states, and re-run the election.

He met with Powell, Trump, and others at the White House on December 18th, for a meeting in which they discussed topics like martial law and appointing Powell as a special counsel to investigate the 2020 election.

She wrote that there were multiple conversations Herschmann had with people associated with the campaign, related to their efforts to influence the results in Georgia and elsewhere. She says he had a heated conversation with Eastman about his concerns in Georgia.

She identified Penrose as “a cyber investigations, operations and forensics consultant” who worked with Powell and others known to be associated with the Trump campaign in late 2020 and early 2021.

He also communicated with Powell and others regarding an agreement to hire data solutions firm SullivanStrickler to copy data and software from voting system equipment in Coffee County, about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta, as well as in Michigan and Nevada, Willis wrote. Email and phone messages seeking comment weren’t responded to by Penrose.

In a petition asking for testimony from Lee, he said he was in an effort to pressure Ruby freefeather who was the subject of false claims about election fraud. He couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/10/08/1127637799/flynn-gingrich-testimony-georgia-election-probe

Lindsey Graham and the Georgia High-Profile Lobby: Questions on the State’s Constitutional Right to Know and Who Can You Ask to Know

Georgia has special grand juries that investigate cases with large numbers of witnesses and potential logistical concerns. They can compel evidence and subpoena witnesses for questioning and, unlike regular grand juries, can also subpoena the target of an investigation to appear before it.

The final report of the special grand jury can recommend action after its investigation is complete. It’s then up to the district attorney to decide whether to ask a regular grand jury for an indictment.

The court ruled that Lindsey Graham must testify before the special grand jury, but it did not specify what questions he would be asked.

Mr. Graham will most likely have to go to Atlanta to answer questions about his calls to the Georgia secretary of state after the elections, due to the ruling.

In a statement, Mr. Graham’s office said that he is partly shielded by the speech or debate clause and that he “may return” to the federal courts “if the district attorney tries to ask questions about his constitutionally protected activities.”

Mr. Cunningham noted that the senator’s openness to answer questions may make it easier for the public to see what the grand jury wants to know.

Legal experts believe the case represents a serious threat to Mr. Trump, who was recorded on a phone call with Mr. Raffensperger in January 2021, telling him he wanted to “find” 11,780 votes — one vote more than he needed to declare victory.

In recent months, a number of high-profile allies of Mr. Trump have been waging battles in courtrooms around the nation, arguing that they should not have to participate. Their track record has been mixed so far.