The tape from Donald Trump’s call to Georgia election officials, according to MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski, never loses its power to shock.
In fact, the recording, which is now a major piece of evidence that was heard by a grand jury, has only gotten worse over time, according to the Morning Joe co-host.
“The investigation into whether or not President Trump tried to overturn his defeat in that state — spoiler alert, he did, so I think we got that,” said panelist Jonathan Lemire.
“That phone call obviously is going to be the center of this. He hits the specific vote total that he needed to overturn the result, he’s leaning on a fellow Republican, secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, there. A lot of legal experts have suggested that this case poses more legal peril to him than some of the others circulating, those in New York, there’s an indication Washington, D.C. might investigate his words leading up to the insurrection.”
“This is something to watch carefully,” he added.
“The next step will be subpoenaed, whether or not Trump himself or those around him, some of the aides in the White House that day, including Mark Meadows, maybe they will get them, will they be forced to testify? That we will find out in the spring.”
The evidence reveals Trump attempted to have lost election results overturned in several states, but according to Brzezinski, nothing has surfaced that is quite as heinous as the Georgia decision.
“You know, that phone call gets worse with time if it’s possible,” she said. “I mean, it was bad when we first heard it, but hearing him say, you know, you can simply say that you recalculated — I mean, my God, as corrupt as it comes.”
A Georgia court approved the formation of a special grand jury on Monday to aid in the gathering of testimony as part of a criminal probe into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to sway the outcome of the state’s 2020 election.
The decision was made at the request of Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis, who stated on Thursday that a large number of witnesses were refusing to participate in her investigation against Trump unless they were subjected to a grand jury subpoena.
According to an order signed by Fulton County Chief Judge Christopher Brasher, the special grand jury in the Trump investigation will convene on May 2 and will serve for no more than 12 months. The panel was approved after a majority of county judges accepted the request.
Special grand juries, which are infrequently formed in Georgia, are unable to indict individuals on criminal offenses. They can, however, issue subpoenas for testimony, papers, and other evidence, which a prosecutor can then use to build a case. Individual prosecutions can also be recommended by special grand juries.
In Georgia and a number of other critical swing states, Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, securing Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.
In a phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger on Jan. 2, 2021, four days before Biden’s victory was declared by Congress, Trump pressed Raffensberger to “find” him enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory in that state.
“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes,” Trump told Raffensperger that day.
In the same call, Trump made a series of “provably false” claims regarding claimed election problems, according to Georgia’s voting system implementation manager.
