(PatriotWise.com)- Former President Donald Trump has faced a lot of legal challenges already, but his biggest challenge yet could soon come in Georgia.
In the Peach State, a special grand jury will begin to hear testimony from witnesses who were subpoenaed regarding the former president’s efforts to undermine the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.
Fani Willis, the district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton County, is leading the case with other prosecutors. The state is looking into whether Trump committed a crime when he called Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, and asked him to “find” the 11,780 votes he needed in the state to change the outcome so that he would win instead of President Joe Biden.
Roughly 50 witnesses were subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury in the case, starting on June 1. Once that process is over, the grand jury will then submit a report to Willis. She will ultimately decide if the state will indict Trump as well as some of his allies for a criminal offense.
This obviously isn’t the only potential criminal case Trump is facing, yet many people believe the one in Georgia could be “potentially the most significant” of any of them. As Georgia State University law professor Clark D. Cunningham told Newsweek recently:
“The phone call to Raffensperger certainly seems like the clearest evidence we have of criminal wrongdoing by Trump. It’s a recording. He acknowledges that it’s him, it’s his voice. There’s no question of authenticity.
“It seems to me that it’s very clear evidence of a violation of Georgia law called the criminal solicitation of election fraud.”
Others, such as the former prosecutor in Los Angeles County Josh Ritter, agreed. He said the probe that’s going on in Georgia is the “closest to a criminal indictment that we’ve seen for the former president.” He added:
“It’s pretty historically significant, especially given the fact that it’s a state investigation rather than a federal investigation.”
Trump has addressed the call in question in the past, calling it a “perfect” call with no criminal wrongdoing. The former president continues to maintain that the investigation that’s going on in Georgia is a political “witch hunt” that’s been launched against him. He has labeled other criminal and civil investigations into him and his business practices in New York the same way.
While these would be state criminal charges brought against him, Trump could also still face federal charges. The Department of Justice hasn’t brought criminal charges against Trump for his role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, 2021, but they could decide to do so.
If that were to happen, it would come after the House January 6 investigating committee submits its final evidence and recommendations to the DOJ, which is expected in the near future.
Trump is also being investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for criminal charges as well as the New York Attorney General’s office for civil charges related to business dealings with the Trump Organization.
