Judges approved a request for a special grand jury conducted by the Georgia prosecutor who’s investigating whether former President Trump and others broke the law by trying to pressure Georgia officials to throw out Joe Biden’s presidential election victory, the Associated Press reports. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked Chief Judge Christopher Brasher to impanel a special grand jury, which Brasher said was approved by a majority of superior court judges. The grand jury will be seated May 2 for a period of up to a year. Judge Robert McBurney was assigned to supervise the special grand jury.
Willis said the investigation’s scope includes but is not limited to a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a November 2020 phone call between U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Raffensperger, the abrupt resignation of the U.S. Attorney in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021, and comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election. Special grand juries, which are not used often in Georgia, can help in the investigation of complex matters. They do not have the power to return an indictment but can make recommendations on criminal prosecutions. Willis said the special grand jury is needed because it can serve for longer than a normal grand jury term, which is two months in Fulton County.