Former nationwide safety adviser Michael Flynn was at a downtown Atlanta courthouse Thursday to testify earlier than a particular grand jury that’s investigating whether or not then-President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to affect the 2020 election in Georgia.
Flynn, a retired lieutenant common, had tried to get out of showing earlier than the panel. However a choose in Florida final month stated he should testify and an appeals court docket earlier this week declined to remain that order whereas Flynn’s attraction was pending.
Flynn might be one of many closing witnesses the panel hears from as Fulton County District Lawyer Fani Willis, who’s main the investigation, has stated she desires to wrap up the particular grand jury quickly. The grand jurors have already questioned a lot of different high-profile Trump associates, together with former New York mayor and Trump legal professional Rudy Giuliani and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
As a result of Flynn lives outdoors Georgia, Willis needed to ask a choose the place he lives in Florida to order him to seem. She defined in paperwork filed with the court docket that Flynn is a “obligatory and materials witness” for the investigation.
In an interview on a right-wing cable information channel in mid-December 2020, Flynn stated Trump “may take army capabilities” and place them in swing states and “mainly rerun an election in every of these states,” Willis wrote in a petition looking for to compel his testimony.
Flynn additionally met on the White Home on Dec. 18, 2020, with Trump, legal professional Sidney Powell and others related to the Trump marketing campaign for a gathering that, based on information studies, “centered on subjects together with invoking martial regulation, seizing voting machines, and appointing Powell as particular counsel to analyze the 2020 election,” Willis wrote.
And he attended conferences in November 2020 on the South Carolina dwelling of conservative legal professional Lin Wooden. Willis wrote that Wooden stated in a tv interview that they met to look into doable methods to affect the election ends in Georgia and elsewhere. Wooden has stated that he testified earlier than the particular grand jury final month.
Particular grand juries in Georgia function behind closed doorways and are typically used to analyze advanced instances with many witnesses. They will compel proof and subpoena testimony from witnesses, however they can not challenge indictments. As soon as its investigation is full, a particular grand jury can suggest motion, however it stays as much as the district legal professional to resolve whether or not to then search an indictment from an everyday grand jury.
