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ATLANTA – A Georgia grand jury investigating possible interference in the 2020 election by Donald Trump and his allies has recommended indictments against more than a dozen people, the jury foreman said Tuesday – a list she said could be ” which could” include the former president.
“You definitely recognize names, yes. There are also names you don’t recognize,” Emily Kohrs said in an interview that will air Tuesday on NBC News’ “Nightly News.”
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She said the list of proposed indictments is not a short list.
“You certainly expect some names,” she said, declining to name any specific names as instructed by the judge who presided over the grand jury.
“I don’t think there are any huge plot twists coming. I don’t think there are any giant ‘That’s not the way I expected this to go at all’ moments,” she said. “I wouldn’t expect you to be surprised.”
Asked if that could include Trump, Kohrs said, “It could. It could.”
The panel convened in May 2022, and was officially disbanded last month after submitting its recommendations to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office.
Portions of the grand jury report were released last week, revealing that the panel had interviewed 75 witnesses and recommended criminal charges against “one or more witnesses” who testified before it. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ordered that those names be withheld for the time being as the DA decides whether to seek charges.
Kohrs told NBC News that the panel thought one or two witnesses could mislead the grand jury.
“I remember at least one moment and probably more than one moment when an answer made me pause because it didn’t match something I had heard before, or something I had seen,” Kohrs said.
One witness who struck her as “honest” was Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.C., who fought her subpoena for testimony in the courts.
Willis wanted to question him about a post-election phone call he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in November 2020. Raffensperger said Graham pressed him to see if he had the power to reject certain absentee ballots, which Raffensperger indicated as a suggestion to spend. out votes that were legally cast.
Kohrs said Graham was “great. He was personable. He was forthcoming. He was a joy to have a conversation with.”
She said she was also impressed by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who also objected to his subpoena. “He may have fought tooth and nail, but when he got to the door, he seemed to appreciate the fact that the battle had been decided,” Kohrs said.
Although he claimed at certain points attorney-client privilege and asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, “he thought about it before he asserted privilege,” she said.
Meanwhile, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows shared “little” during his roughly 90 minutes of testimony, she said.
Another witness who did not recognize Kohrs was offered immunity on the witness stand after he refused to answer questions, she said. In all, about a dozen witnesses had some form of immunity, Kohrs said, and they generally did not have common names.
The special purpose grand jury is different from a typical jury — it has the ability to issue subpoenas, and instead of issuing an indictment, it presents its findings to the district attorney, who then decides whether to present evidence to another grand jury. for criminal charges. .
Kohrs said one of the first pieces of evidence the panel reviewed was the widely reported audio of a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call in which Trump urged Raffensperger, the state’s chief election officer, to overturn Joe Biden’s victory. “I just want to get 11,780 votes, that’s one more than we have. Because we won the state,” Trump said on the call.
Kohrs said she was busy at work when news of the phone call broke, and the first time she heard about it was while she was sitting on the grand jury. She said it was one of the first pieces of evidence they heard.
“It’s an interesting piece of the puzzle, a strange piece of the puzzle,” Kohrs said.
Trump defended the call as “perfect” and called the Willis investigation a “witch hunt.”
Kohrs said she didn’t vote in the 2016 election or the 2020 election, but volunteered to be a trooper because “this is really cool. And because this is important.”
“I think we found out a lot about a very complex situation,” she said. “I think we got a lot of answers.”
Blayne Alexander reported from Atlanta and Dareh Gregorian reported from New York.
