The prosecutor for Georgia’s biggest county on Thursday requested a special grand jury with subpoena power to aid her investigation into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to influence the U.S. state’s 2020 election results.
In a letter to Fulton County’s chief judge, District Attorney Fani Willis wrote that multiple witnesses being probed have refused to cooperate absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.
“Therefore, I am hereby requesting … that a special purpose grand jury be impaneled for the purpose of investigating the facts and circumstances relating directly or indirectly to possible attempts to disrupt the lawful administration of the 2020 elections in the State of Georgia,” Willis wrote.
Willis said a special grand jury, which can subpoena witnesses, was needed because jurors can be impaneled for longer periods and focus exclusively on a single probe.
The Superior Court in Fulton County, which encompasses most of the state capital Atlanta, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The investigation by Willis, a Democrat, is the most serious probe facing Trump in Georgia after he was recorded in a Jan. 2, 2020, phone call pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the states election results based on unfounded claims of voter fraud.
