A special grand jury was seated in Atlanta Monday to join a criminal investigation into whether Donald Trump attempted to overturn the state's results in the 2020 presidential election.
Against the backdrop of heightened local security, 200 prospective panelists reported to the Fulton County courthouse where District Attorney Fani Willis and a local judge selected 26 people (23 grand jurors and three alternates) to serve on a panel that will have the authority to subpoena witnesses and documents central to the investigation launched 15 months ago.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, during a public portion of the proceeding, briefly outlined the panel's mission but made no specific reference to the former president.
McBurney said only that panel would seek possible evidence of "an unlawful attempt to disrupt the election."
More:Trump investigations set to accelerate in coming weeks: Where the inquiries stand
More:Remember Trump’s call to ‘find’ votes in Georgia? Meet Fani Willis, the DA who could charge him
While the special panel will have authority to subpoena witnesses and documents and ask their own questions, it will not have the power to make charging decisions. At the end of the investigation, the panel is required to issue a report in which it can recommend criminal charges. The actual charging decision falls to the district attorney.
"You might recommend the contrary – that there is no there there," McBurney told the panelists. "That's what this...
A popular social media conspiracy theory about a recent cluster of hantavirus cases claims that the word “hanta” means “scam,” “fraud,” or “nonsense” in “Hebrew slang.” That’s more or less where t...