A state judge in Georgia rejected former President Donald Trump’s demands that he suppress all evidence gathered last year by a special purpose grand jury in Atlanta and expunge its report on the 2020 election.
In a nine-page ruling on Monday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney also said he won’t disqualify Fani Willis, the county district attorney, from the investigation.
McBurney’s decisions appears to clear the way for Willis to charge Trump over his role in trying to overturn his loss in 2020 to President Joe Biden. She’s said she may seek an indictment in the grand jury term that runs from July 11 to Sept. 1, and she’s asked Fulton County judges to schedule no trials in the weeks of Aug. 7 and 14.
The judge held that Trump’s claimed injuries from the investigation are “speculative and unrealized,” depriving him of legal standing to challenge the probe before any indictment has been issued.
“They are insufficient because, while being the subject (or even target) of highly publicized criminal investigation is likely an unwelcome and unpleasant experience, no court ever has held that that status alone provides basis for the courts to interfere with or halt the investigation,” McBurney wrote.
A spokesperson for Willis’ office declined to comment. Trump’s attorney Drew Findling and a spokesperson for the former president were not immediately reached for comment.
McBurney ruled on a March 20 filing by Trump’s lawyers attacking the special purpose grand jury, which heard 75 witnesses but lacked the authority to charge anyone. Trump’s filing called that process “confusing, flawed and, at-times, blatantly unconstitutional.”
If Trump is charged, the judge wrote in Monday’s opinion, he could renew his objections to how Willis’ office had pursued the investigation.
“Guessing at what that picture might look like before the investigative dots are connected may be a popular game for the media and blogosphere, but it is not proper role for the courts and formal legal argumentation,” he wrote.
(Updates with more from ruling.)
Author: David Voreacos, Erik Larson and Zoe Tillman