Breaking: Atlanta area DA granted special grand jury to probe Trump’s election interference

Former US president Donald Trump continues to spread disinformation about the 2020 election – Copyright AFP/File STR

The prosecutor, Fani T. Willis of Fulton County, Georgia last week asked that a special grand jury be seated starting on May 2, 2022, to investigate possible election interference by the former President Donald Trump and his allies.

Fulton County Superior Court judges approved the request on Monday, allowing the investigation to move forward. This is because potential witnesses refused to participate voluntarily in the investigation, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A grand jury could issue subpoenas compelling those witnesses to provide information.

The special grand jury will allow Willis to seat a panel entirely focused on gathering evidence in the Trump investigation, reports CNN. She said she needed such a grand jury in order to issue subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify and to gather additional evidence.

Willis has said she expects to decide on whether to bring charges against Trump in the first half of 2022.

“The District Attorney’s Office has received information indicating a reasonable probability that the State of Georgia’s administration of elections in 2020, including the State’s election of the President of the United States, was subject to possible criminal disruptions,” Ms. Willis wrote in a letter to Christopher S. Brasher, the chief judge of the Fulton County Superior Court.

This story is breaking and will be updated.