An election lawyer who was questioned by a Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury that had recommended charges against former President Donald Trump and others claimed that it was a “completely political situation.”
Overall, the grand jury had recommended that 39 people face criminal charges, while Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ultimately charged about half of them last month, including President Trump, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, lawyer Sidney Powell, and more. All have pleaded not guilty.
Other than Ms. Mitchell, the report also recommended criminal charges for Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, and others. They were ultimately not charged by Ms. Willis’s office.
Recalling her interview with the grand jury, Ms. Mitchell said that “they were definitely going to recommend indicting basically all the Trump allies—it was a completely political situation—nothing to do with the law. Nothing.”
In her interview, Ms. Mitchell made reference to a controversial interview with grand jury forewoman Emily Kohrs, noting that her questioning why she took copies of an election-contest complaint with her.
“At some point, the chairwoman that you’ve seen on TV,” she said, referring to Ms. Kohrs, “asked me what I had in my hands.” She replied, “I told her what it was, and she asked if she could see it.”
“After a while, she asked ‘You say here, in the memorandum of law, that you are asking the court to award the electors to Donald Trump,’” Ms. Mitchell recalled. “I looked at her with a puzzled look on my face,” she added to The Federalist. “I said, ‘Where do you read that?’”
Explaining further, Ms. Mitchell said that Ms. Kohrs handed the paper back to her and the paragraph she had referenced to make her claim.
“Nowhere in the memorandum of law does it say that the election should be awarded to Trump,” Ms. Mitchell said, referring to the interchange. “We argued that there is precedent under Georgia law for the court to vacate the results and order a new election if we were able to establish that the evidence proved there were more illegal votes, cast in violation of state law but counted and included in the certified total, than the margin of difference between the two candidates—the remedy is a new election.”
“Alternatively, we argued that the state legislature has plenary power under the U.S. Constitution to meet and determine the electors—and I told her that,” she said, claiming the forewoman made a claim of something that is “simply not there.”
Also in the interview, Ms. Mitchell said that she sat on the phone call between President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger shortly after the 2020 election in which Mr. Raffensperger has publicly claimed made him “feel uncomfortable.” The secretary also alleged that he believed President Trump was trying to pressure him into invalidating what he described as legally cast votes; the former president has denied any wrongdoing.
Other Details
In the report that was released last week recommending charges, the grand jury said that it did not act at the behest of Ms. Willis’ office.They wrote that their findings to recommend charges came only from them, and they were not pressured by anyone, including the district attorney’s office. Ms. Willis, they added, “had nothing to do with the recommendations contained herein,” and the grand jury panel contained no legal experts or any defense lawyers.
“The majority of this grand jury used their collective best efforts, however, to attend every session, listen to every witness, and attempt to understand the facts as presented and the laws as explained,” they wrote.
“I wanted to hear from the former president, but honestly, I wanted to subpoena the former president because I got to swear everybody in,” Ms. Kohrs said in one interview. “And so I thought it would be really cool to get 60 seconds with President Trump, of me looking at him and be like, ‘Do you solemnly swear.’”
Speaking to The Associated Press at the time, Ms. Kohrs stated she didn’t vote in 2020 and was only slightly aware of the election controversy, adding she didn’t know details of President Trump’s allegations about fraud. She also told AP that when prosecutors played the Trump–Raffensperger call, it was the first time she heard it.
Regarding the grand jury’s report recommending charges, Ms. Kohrs told AP that “I fully stand by our report as our decision and our conclusion.”
The Epoch Times has contacted the Fulton County District Attorney’s office for comment.
Neither the DA’s office nor anyone from the grand jury, including Ms. Kohrs, have publicly responded to Ms. Mitchell’s recent claims.
