Atlanta-area jury subpoenas Giuliani, other Trump allies: What it means

Several allies of former US President Donald Trump, including his former attorney Rudy Giuliani and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, have been subpoenaed by an Atlanta-area grand jury, investigating the Republican candidate’s attempt to overthrow the 2020 election in Georgia. 

Trump’s former legal advisors John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Cleta Mitchell and Kenneth Chesebro, have also been subpoenaed by the court. 

His actions in Georgia are being investigated by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, and several people have been subpoenaed already, appearing before the grand jury. 

Also Read | Should Donald Trump be charged for January 6 riots? Liz Cheney, and 50% of US, thinks so

This most recent bunch of subpoenas, however, show that the grand jury is reaching into Trump’s inner circle. 

Graham reportedly placed two phone calls to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger and his office, in the weeks after the November 2020 election, asking them to re-examine the absentee ballots “to explore the possibility of a more favourable outcome for former President Donald Trump”, as per the court documents, USA Today reported. 

The case against Trump in Georgia is separate from the Justice Department inquiry and the special House committee’s examination of events that took place on January 6, the day of the Capitol riots. The aim is to determine whether Trump and his tweets about the 2020 elections instigated the same. 

Most recently, the panel introduced the secondhand accounts of Secret Service agents, Anthony Ornato and Robert Engel, from that day. They described the situation where Trump wanted to join the rioters at the Capitol. 

Also Read | January 6 hearings: After Cassidy Hutchinson, who could testify next?

Raffensperger, last month, met with the Jan 6 panel and testified for hours about how Trump called in January 2021, at which time, he attempted to pressure state election officials to flip the results in his favour. 

Currently, the Jan 6 committee is on a break too but will return and resume the hearings before providing a detailed report of their findings.