Trump loses Georgia Supreme Court motion in election probe

The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday unanimously rejected former President Donald Trump’s longshot bid to overturn a special grand jury report that recommended criminal charges in the Fulton County district attorney’s investigation into the 2020 Georgia election. .

The state Supreme Court also rejected Trump’s request that it block Fulton DA Fani Willis from continuing to oversee the criminal investigation.

The reigning It comes weeks before Willis is expected to seek an indictment in an investigation into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory against him in the Peach State.

So far, no one has been criminally charged in the investigation. And the identities of more than a dozen people recommended by a special grand jury for indictment remain secret.

The state’s high court said Trump’s lawyers failed to show that the case presents “one of those very rare circumstances” that require bypassing lower courts.

Trump’s legal team has a similar request pending in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta to block the special grand jury’s work and report from being used in any future civil or criminal proceedings.

In a petition four days ago, Trump’s lawyers acknowledged that it would be highly unusual for the state Supreme Court to take up the case, since that body typically reviews appeals from lower courts.

But they argued that the court should take up the matter directly, in part because of Trump’s status as a former president and a 2024 presidential candidate.

And, as they did in their petition in Fulton County court, the attorneys argued that the evidence compiled by the special grand jury in the election probe was “illegally obtained.”

In its Monday dismissal of Trump’s petition, the Supreme Court said it “makes clear that a petitioner may not use this Court’s original jurisdiction as a means to circumvent the ordinary means of obtaining the relief he seeks does not show that he is being fairly restrained. access through ordinary channels.”

And Trump “does not show that he was prevented from fair access to ordinary channels,” the justices wrote.

Trump’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Supreme Court decision.

The special grand jury has heard evidence and testimony from dozens of witnesses over the past year, but it does not have the power to return indictments.

Last week, two regular Superior Court grand juries were empaneled, soon to be tasked with deciding whether to criminally indict Trump and his allies.

Willis’ criminal investigation began in 2021, shortly after it was publicly revealed that Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and pressured him to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s win in the state .

Raffensperger rejected that request, which is part of an effort by Trump and his allies to hand Biden his Electoral College loss, or raise enough doubts about the results in some key states like Georgia to throw the decision about who will be the president of the House of Representatives.

Trump is currently the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Since launching his campaign, he has been indicted on two more criminal charges.

In New York state court in Manhattan, he pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records in connection with a 2016 payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels.

And he also pleaded not guilty in Florida federal court to charges related to his retention of classified records after he left the White House.

The special counsel in the classified records case, Jack Smith, is separately investigating Trump for possible crimes in his attempt to reverse his loss in the 2020 election, and for his actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of his supporters rioted at the US Capitol.

A joint session of Congress met that day to certify Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.