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- A special grand jury in Atlanta last year recommended indicting Sen. Lindsay Graham for election interference.
- It also recommended charges against now-ex Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, and other Trump allies.
- A different grand jury ultimately indicted a narrower set of people, including Trump.
A special grand jury empaneled last year in Georgia recommended indicting Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Graham — along with more than a dozen people the special grand jury recommended for criminal charges — were ultimately not included in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's 41-count indictment over election interference, which included 13 charges against former President Donald Trump.
The special grand jury also recommended charges against former Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, as well as several of Trump's aides, including Boris Epshtyn, and other political allies, such as conspiracy theorists Lin Wood and former Trump administration National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
Thirteen of the empaneled grand jurors recommended bringing a criminal charge against Graham, with seven voting against and one abstaining.
Willis' office empaneled the special grand jury to investigate attempts by Trump and Georgia officials to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It was sparked, in part, by Trump's call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to "find 11,780 votes" that would close the gap of his election loss to now-President Joe Biden in the state.
That earlier grand jury finished its work in January 2023. It had the power to investigate crimes and bring subpoenas, but not to bring criminal charges.
"The Grand Jury heard extensive testimony on the subject of alleged election fraud from poll workers, investigators, technical experts, and State of Georgia employees and officials, as well as from persons still claiming that such fraud took place," the jurors wrote in their report, which was unsealed Thursday. "We find by unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election."
Graham rejected Biden's victory in the 2020 election, urging Trump not to concede after he already lost and donating money to his legal challenges to the results.
According to Raffensperger, Graham privately asked about tossing legally cast ballots — an accusation Graham denied in an interview with the Washington Post.
Graham fought a subpoena from the special grand jury — a legal battle he ultimately lost after the Supreme Court rejected his challenges.
Representatives for Graham and Loeffler didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Flynn's attorney Jesse Binnall said the special grand jury report indicated that Willis's case was "politically motivated."
"It's all just fruit of the same poisonous tree that we've seen time and time again — and is designed to destroy the country and undermine the values that make this nation great," Binnall said.
Loeffler later said she would make "no apologies" for her actions.
"I make no apologies for serving my state by giving voice to millions of Americans who felt disenfranchised in 2020 — and I refuse to be intimidated by a two-tier system of justice that seeks to systematically destroy conservatives across this country," Loeffler wrote in a statement posted on Twitter.
An ordinary grand jury brought charges against Trump and 18 co-defendants in August. The defendants include his former chief-of-staff Mark Meadows, lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, and John Eastman, and a slew of Republican officials who falsely said they were state electors.
The special grand jury recommended indictments against 39 people overall.
The report was unsealed Thursday, with a judge ruling the findings no longer need to be private now that a separate grand jury returned an indictment related to the case.
This story has been updated.