Fulton judge says jurors are allowed to talk about final report

Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said on February 24th that jurors involved in Gerogia's special grand jury that investigated Donald Trump's election meddling were allowed to discuss some portions of the final report publically.

“The contents of the report are not deliberations,” McBurney said according to a CNN report. “What witnesses said, what you put in your report, those are not off-limits.”

Judge McBurny did order that some contents of the final report remain under seal, including the names of those who could face indictment and the recommendations that were made according to CNN.

The news from McBurney came just days after grand jury member Emily Kohrs' awkward comments on CNN's "Outfront," which made waves in liberal and conservative media circles.

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A portion of Fulton County's special grand jury report into Trump's 2020 Georgia election meddling was released to the public on February 16th.

In January 2022, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was given permission by Judge McBurney to seat a special grand jury to assist in her investigation of then-President Donald Trump according to a report from CNN.  

In January 2021, a phone call between Trump and Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensburger revealed that the former president had asked Raffensburger to help find him more votes in Georgia so he could overturn Joe Biden's win in the state. 

“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said in the recording according to reporting from the Associated Press. “Because we won the state.” 

The special grand jury was tasked with investigating the former president's comments and subsequent actions in order to determine if he, or his associates, broke any laws when they attempted to overturn his defeat in Georgia.

For months, members of the special grand jury worked diligently to decipher the truth as they heard from 75 different witnesses. 

Some of the key people subpoenaed included Georgia's Governor, Brian Kemp, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, Trump’s former personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensburger.

The special grand jury investigation into Trump’s actions concluded on January 9th but no indictments were issued because of a quirk in Georgia state law. 

“Special grand juries in Georgia cannot issue indictments but instead can issue a final report recommending actions to be taken,” wrote journalists from CBS News.

“It is then up to the district attorney to decide whether to seek an indictment from a regular grand jury,” the journalists continued. 

Unfortunately, the special grand jury’s report was not made public when it was finished and attorneys representing Fulton County fought hard to keep it secret from a coalition of media outlets that wished to see the report released, according to CNN. 

"We think immediately releasing before the district attorney has even had an opportunity to address publicly whether there will be charges or not… is dangerous," said chief senior assistant district attorney Donald Wakeford."

‘It's dangerous to the people who may or may not be named in the report for various reasons,” Wakeford added. 

“It's also a disservice to the witnesses who came to the grand jury and spoke the truth to the grand jury," the chief senior assistant district attorney concluded. 

Judge McBurney made no decision at that time on whether or not the report would be made public and said he was going to reflect on the arguments made by each side according to Kate Brumback of the Associated Press, a situation that resulted in the report's partial release on February 16th.