LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Prosecutors in Georgia could soon decide to seek indictments stemming from efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election there. A special grand jury finished its investigation in December. And now some of its final report has been made public. Georgia Public Broadcasting's Stephen Fowler has more on what is and is not included in those documents.
STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: It's been more than two years since this infamous call between then-President Donald Trump and Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger about the 2020 election.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DONALD TRUMP: All I want to do is this I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.
FOWLER: And it's been a few weeks since an Atlanta-based special grand jury wrapped up its investigation into that call and other election interference with a final report on its findings. Now some of that report is public. But a judge is holding back some of it for now that names potential crimes and specific people that might have committed them.
ANTHONY KREIS: He has to balance the due process rights of people who didn't have an opportunity to be heard but might be accused of something.
FOWLER: That's Anthony Kreis, a constitutional law professor at Georgia State University. This special grand jury can't issue indictments, so Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will have to do that herself. Most of the recommendations from the jury will be under wraps until then. But Kreis says there are two new pieces of information that were made public that could shine a light on what comes next. One, the special grand jury believes at least one witness lied under oath when testifying. And two...
KREIS: I think the most important takeaway that's useful to everybody is that the jurors unanimously came to the conclusion that there were no irregularities or widespread instances of fraud which would call into question the outcome of the 2020 election.
FOWLER: Even though the special grand jury's investigation is complete, the district attorney's office may take its time before bringing indictments, especially if they go beyond the scope of the redacted report.
KREIS: There may be T's to cross and I's to dot, even though the special purpose grand jury's work is now done. And I think the thing of the timing is that people who want something, you know, immediate are going to be very disappointed.
FOWLER: One person who's not disappointed is Donald Trump, who thanked the grand jury on his social media site and claimed, quote, "total exoneration" despite no evidence yet that's the case.
For NPR News, I'm Stephen Fowler in Atlanta. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
