The Georgia judge approved the grand jury for an investigation into Trump’s election

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President Donald Trump announced grants for opioid response to state governments in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Sept. 4, 2019.

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Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to President Joe Biden in Georgia and several other key states, ensuring Biden won the Electoral College vote nationwide.

Four days before Congress could certify Biden’s victory, Trump insisted in January. 2, 2021, the phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger to “find” him enough votes to reverse Biden’s win in that state.

“All I want to do is this: I just want to get 11,780 votes,” Trump told Raffensperger that day.

In the same call, Trump also made what Georgia’s voting system enforcement manager called a few days later a series of “probably untrue” statements about alleged election irregularities.

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Raffensberger, according to DA Willis, who was “an important witness in the investigation, indicated that he would not participate in an interview or otherwise offer evidence until he was presented with a subpoena by my office.”

Trump’s efforts with Georgia officials are part of a concerted campaign to undo Biden’s success in several swing states through court actions, political harassment and other means.

The effort failed hours after a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol complex on January 6, 2021, four days after Trump called Raffensberger. Prior to the attack, Trump urged those who attended a rally outside the White House to oppose confirmation of Biden’s victory through a joint session of Congress, and called on his own vice president, Mike Pence, to repeal- validate the Democrat’s victory by rejecting records. of voters from several swing states.

Pence refused to make Trump’s bid, and confirmed Biden as the winner of the vote at Electoral College after the mob left the Capitol.

The grand jury that will investigate Trump’s case will be presided over by Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney, according to Monday’s order.

A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the grand jury’s special decision.

But on Friday, Trump in a statement on Willis’ request for a special grand jury reiterated his false claim of widespread ballot fraud in the state, which he argues led to his defeat there, and elsewhere. .

“So let me straighten this out, I’m being investigated in Georgia for soliciting an attorney general with a lot of lawyers and others deliberately looking on the phone for corruption, which certainly took place in Georgia’s presidential election – but people did of crime is in any way, shape or form being investigated and instead protected? ” said Trump.

Also Friday, a Texas resident named Chad Stark was arrested by federal authorities for allegedly posting a threat to kill a Georgia election official and other officials just days after the call. Trump to Raffensberger.

Stark was charged with an accusation of posting a message on Craigslist on Jan. 5, 2021, with the subject: “Georgia Patriots time to kill [Official A] the Chinese agent – $ 10,000. “

That official was identified as a state election worker, and the message was written on the same day of the runoff election for the two seats in the Georgia U.S. Senate won by Democratic challengers, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

– Additional reporting by CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger

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