Georgia probe expands into Trump's inner circle

July 7, 2022

Inside today’s edition of Swing State Georgia:

• Herschel Walker kicks off his November ad campaign.

• Kelly Loeffler finds a new way to boost the GOP.

• Airline delays catch the eye of a Georgia frequent flier.

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It’s not just the January 6 committee in Congress.

The Fulton County probe of potential criminal wrongdoing in Georgia’s 2020 election is accelerating – and has now expanded to include some of Donald Trump’s inner circle.

Our AJC colleague Tamar Hallerman broke the bombshell news yesterday that the special grand jury investigation into Trump’s effort to overturn the election has subpoenaed Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell and other lawyers counseling the former president on how to reverse his defeat.

A closer look at the subpoenas unearthed even more developments. Among them:

·       U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham made “at least two” calls to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office in late 2020 to urge him to reexamine “certain absentee ballots” to help Trump close the gap.

·       Trump aide Ken Chesebro was apparently intimately involved in the Georgia GOP’s plot to put forth sham electors in December 2020. The subpoena said he worked with chair David Shafer and others to coordinate the slate of phony electors and he drafted at least two memos to back the fraudulent scheme.

·       Prosecutors are intensely interested in the Dec. 3, 2020 state legislative hearing that then-state Sen. William Ligon held with Giuliani featuring doctored video of Fulton County elections staffers counting ballots, Hallerman reported. That’s why Jenna Ellis and Jacki Pick Deason, a podcaster, were also subpoenaed.

As for the biggest question – will Willis subpoena Trump? – the prosecutor has left open that possibility but it’s still unclear what she will do. Typically, though, prosecutors will start at the bottom of the pyramid before moving to the top – and Willis seems to be closing in on the highest levels.

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LISTEN UP. The newest edition of the Politically Georgia podcast is fresh and ready. We’ve got the latest on the new Fulton grand jury subpoenas in the Trump investigation, Stacey Abrams’ kitchen table issues, and what Kelly Loeffler has been doing since she lost her Senate race in 2021.

Listen and subscribe to our podcast for free at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher.

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MONEYBALL. It’s that time again: Over the next few days, a splurge of fundraising disclosures will help paint a clearer financial picture of where the marquee political races in Georgia stand for 2022.

Here’s a closer look at what we’re watching: