Middleboro Review 2: POLITICO NIGHTLY: Decoding the Fulton County document dump

Thursday, February 16, 2023

POLITICO NIGHTLY: Decoding the Fulton County document dump

Rudy Giuliani arrives at the Fulton County, Ga. Courthouse on Aug. 17, 2022. | John Bazemore/AP Photo

‘PERJURY MAY HAVE BEEN COMMITTED’ — Today was probably a bit of a disappointment if you were expecting some bombshell developments in the ongoing criminal investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis concerning efforts to manipulate Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results, including by former President Donald Trump .

While the full report of the special grand jury that investigated the conduct contains “recommendations on indictments and relevant statutes,” none of that — the good stuff — was in the portions that were released today. The state judge had ordered just the release of the “introduction and conclusion” as well as a section in which the grand jury “discusses its concern that some witnesses may have lied under oath during their testimony to the grand jury,” and that is precisely what we got .

Still, a few parts stand out in an otherwise very limited and not terribly illuminating document that contains just a few pages of substantive material.

First, the report explains that a majority of the grand jury — which included 26 residents of Fulton County, including three alternates — concluded “that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it” and recommends that the DA file charges “where the evidence is compelling.”

Given the range of prominent political figures who appeared before the grand jury — including Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) — the conclusion is provocative but does not tell us what we really want to know, which is who they were talking about. The report explains that the grand jury “received evidence from or involving 75 witnesses,” so the comment could refer to any of the people who testified, including those who are not national or prominent political figures.

Another portion of the document explains that the grand jury concluded “by a unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election.” That conclusion was informed by “extensive testimony” provided to the grand jury by “poll workers, investigators, technical experts, and State of Georgia employees and officials, as well as from persons still claiming that such fraud took place.”

This is an important official finding. But it does not resolve what is likely to be an important legal question for the Fulton County DA’s office as they make initial charging decisions: whether the people claiming election fraud actually believed it at the time. Of course, there is considerable reason to doubt anyone who claims that there was widespread fraud in the state’s election, since there was no such thing, but prosecutors will have to resolve that question on a person-by-person basis if they proceed to charge anyone with election fraud. That goes for Trump too .

Willis has said that charging decisions by the office are “imminent,” but it is not clear when that will happen, nor is it clear that any group of initial defendants would include Trump — even if the grand jury recommended in their full report that he be charged or the DA otherwise believes that the evidence supports charges against him.

Keep in mind that the special grand jury's purpose was purely investigative; they didn't have the power to return indictments. So if the DA's office decides to move forward with charging anyone, it would need to present those charges to a different grand jury.

As a general matter, it would not be unusual in a large, complex criminal investigation for prosecutors to begin with charges against relatively low-level or less prominent individuals in the hopes of obtaining cooperation from those people against more culpable individuals and strengthening the office’s evidence.

That possibility has been somewhat lost in the coverage of the investigation, but it is worth bearing in mind as the office continues its work and the facts continue to unfold in one of the nation’s most closely watched criminal investigations.

Don’t worry, we might still have a chance to see more of the special grand jury report. The judge's order suggests that the full report — or at least more of it — could become public if the DA's office proceeds to file charges against people. At that point, the document could become part of the court record and available to the public as a result of discovery and pre-trial litigation.

Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at ankush.khardori@gmail.com . Programming note: Nightly will not publish on Monday, Feb. 20 for Presidents Day. We will be back in your inboxes on Tuesday, Feb. 21.

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WHAT'D I MISS?

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) at the Capitol Building. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

— Fetterman hospitalized to treat clinical depression: Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) checked himself into the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Wednesday evening to receive inpatient care for clinical depression , his chief of staff Adam Jentleson said this afternoon. The first-term Democratic senator has experienced depression throughout his life, but “it only became severe in recent weeks,” Jentleson said in a statement. Fetterman is receiving care on a voluntary basis and went to the hospital after evaluation from Brian Monahan, attending physician of the U.S. Congress.

— Biden to speak with Xi Jinping following spy balloon shoot-down: Biden said today he expects to speak with the Chinese president after the detection and later shoot-down of a Chinese surveillance balloon led to a spike in tensions between the two countries. “I expect to be speaking with President Xi and I hope we are going to get to the bottom of this,” Biden said during an address from the White House. “But I make no apologies for taking down that balloon.” Biden’s comments come days after the U.S. military shot down three unidentified objects last weekend. He said the intelligence community believes these objects were “most likely balloons” involving private companies and scientific research.

— Proud Boys leaders facing Jan. 6 charges to subpoena Trump: Leaders of the far-right Proud Boys say they intend to subpoena Trump to testify in the ongoing trial pertaining to the group’s alleged conspiracy to forcibly derail the transfer of power from Trump to Biden. Prosecutors have underscored the group’s repeated responses to Trump’s public statements — from his Sept. 2020 debate-stage exhortation to the group to “stand back and stand by” to his Dec. 19, 2020 tweet urging supporters to attend his Jan. 6 rally. “Be there. Will be wild,” he wrote.

— Kentucky Supreme Court leaves abortion ban in place: The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled today to keep two state abortion restrictions in place for now — dashing the hope of clinics in the deep-red state that had sued for the right to resume providing the procedure while legal challenges continue. In her opinion, Justice Debra Lambert said that Louisville Circuit Court Judge Mitch Perry was wrong to halt enforcement of the bans last July and the appeals court was correct to reinstate the bans in August. She did, however, leave the door open to hearing a future challenge on whether “the right to abortion exists by implication under the Kentucky Constitution.”

AROUND THE WORLD

QATARGATE REVISITED — Belgium’s probe into alleged corruption and influence-buying by Qatar and Morocco in the European Parliament has widened, an international arrest warrant obtained by POLITICO shows , write Camille Gijs and Eddy Wax .

EU Parliament Members Maria Arena and Alessandra Moretti are connected to the investigation being undertaken by Belgian prosecutors, according to the warrant for Italian MEP Andrea Cozzolino, who was arrested last week on charges of corruption, money-laundering and participation in a criminal organization. The warrant was issued on February 10 by Belgian investigative judge Michel Claise.

According to the document, Arena and Moretti were members of a “quadrumvirate,” along with Cozzolino and Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella, who was also arrested last week. The foursome, according to the warrant, did the bidding of former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri, an alleged ringleader of the network operating in the European Parliament, who has made a plea deal with Belgian prosecutors.

In one example cited in the warrant, Arena and Moretti were said to have acted on Panzeri’s instructions during a meeting about a possible parliament resolution on Qatar in late 2021. Panzeri, who was at that stage no longer an MEP and didn’t attend the meeting himself, gave instructions to his former assistant, seeking to influence the possible resolution.

The influence-buying scandal has rocked the EU capital, after Belgian authorities raided homes and offices in December 2022, amid allegations Qatar and Morocco handed out cash and gifts to secure favorable treatment in the European Parliament. In the months since, the institution has undergone a period of soul-searching as its leaders attempted to distance themselves from those implicated and enact reforms.

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NIGHTLY NUMBER

362,758

The number of vehicles that the electric vehicle company Tesla has recalled following a directive issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration , which identified the driver-assist program as a “crash risk.” NHTSA advised Tesla to implement a voluntary software update that addresses specific issues, which have to do with the vehicles being unable to navigate difficult intersections. Tesla acknowledged the concerns and identified 18 warranty claims which may be related to the conditions described. The report comes after years of requests from regulators and safety experts who have implored Tesla to add better safeguards to its cars.

RADAR SWEEP

IPHONES FROM HELL — Located in Zhengzhou, the capital of China’s Henan province, is Foxconn’s largest compound, which is nicknamed “iPhone City.” The sprawling metropolis covers an area of 5.6 square kilometers, which is about one-tenth the size of Manhattan, and employs around 2000,000 workers. The busy season kicks off in September and tampers off around January or February. And this year, the atmosphere turned particularly tense as a result of surging global demand for Apple Inc. products at the same time that Covid-19 outbreaks disrupted production and labor protests pitted workers against riot police. The series of upheavals and their lingering impacts has drawn renewed attention to the lives of Chinese manufacturing workers , many of whom work on a temporary basis and face long hours with low pay. Read Viola Zhou ’s investigation into the period of turmoil for the online magazine Rest of World.

PARTING WORDS

Israelis wave national flags and banners during protests against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government to overhaul the judicial system. | Ohad Zwigenberg/AP Photo

LETTER FROM ISRAEL — As Shabbat comes to a close and Tel Aviv stirs back to life, protesters begin to gather on HaBima Square. At a nearby cafe, Mya Guarnieri Jaradat sits among a small group of Israelis who wonder aloud about this fraught moment for the country… and they decide to join the crowd.

Democracy in Israel may face dire threats, but a festive atmosphere prevails during this Saturday night march, which quickly fills Kaplan Street, a major thoroughfare in the heart of the city. People smile and snap selfies; they bang on drums and toot kazoos — sounding out the rhythm of Ha’am doresh tzedek chevrati ! (“The people demand social justice!”).

Some 130,000 demonstrators swarmed the streets that night last month to rally against the country’s new far-right government — arguably the most extreme in Israel’s history — and an agenda that even centrist politicians say threatens Israel’s democracy. The protest wasn’t a one-off. Pro-democracy demonstrations have taken place every Saturday since the start of January, bringing in some of the largest crowds in recent memory (though smaller than the 2011 social justice protests that, at their height, brought approximately a quarter million people to the streets).

The new government is led by a familiar face, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been in and out of office since 1996 and is still on trial for corruption charges.

But the coalition he cobbled together to regain power includes elements that once composed the fringe of Israeli politics. That includes Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right religious nationalist who heads a political party named “Jewish Power.” Previously, he was a member of Kach, a party that was outlawed in Israel and that spent 25 years on the U.S. State Department’s list of terror organizations; in a twist of irony, Ben Gvir is now serving as the country’s national security minister. Since taking the helm, he has visited the Al Aqsa compound in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, home to the third holiest site in Islam. Al Aqsa is sacred to Jews as well, but such visits are viewed by Palestinians as a huge provocation — an act so contentious that Ariel Sharon’s September 2000 visit is widely credited with sparking the Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising.

Read about the new Israeli government — and what it’s like on the streets in the country — from Jaradat’s first person point of view here .