The Atlanta-area district attorney on Monday began presenting a grand jury with the case that soon could lead to an indictment of Donald Trump and allies of the former president for interfering in the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
On Monday afternoon, the pace of that presentation in Fulton County Superior Court appeared to be moving faster than expected, with witnesses who were initially planning to appear Tuesday called in a day early.
A source with knowledge of the proceedings told NBC News that as of 2:43 p.m., ET, grand jurors were hearing testimony from the fifth witness out of 10 people who have been called to appear before the panel. Depending on the remaining witnesses, it could possibly mean a vote on whether to charge Trump and others before the end of the day.
Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney, who would review any indictments issued by the grand jury on Monday, told reporters staking out his courtroom to “go get dinner.” McBurney said “regular business” is finished for the day, but the courtroom is being kept open until the judge gets word from the district attorney’s office that his presence is not needed for the rest of the day.
The journalist George Chidi, who had originally been summoned to testify on Tuesday, was told to be there Monday, according to a tweet he posted.
“Change of plans. I’m going to court today. They’re moving faster than they thought,” tweeted Chidi, who later was seen entering the courthouse.
Another expected witness Tuesday, former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican, was also called to testify before the grand jury on Monday, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Trump has said he expects to be charged this week by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, marking his fourth criminal indictment this year.
On Monday morning, Jen Jordan, a Democratic former state senator and Georgia attorney general nominee, testified to the grand jury.
Another Democrat who had been subpoenaed, former state Rep. Bee Nguyen, likewise testified. She later revealed that she had given testimony about Trump’s campaign lawyer Rudy Giuliani and other attorneys who pushed false claims about ballot fraud in the state.
Nguyen in a statement said, “When I took my oath of office in 2017, I swore my allegiance to our Constitution and promised to protect and defend out State and our country.”
“On December 10, 2020, when Rudy Giuliani and the former President’s legal team appeared before the Georgia House of representatives, I upheld my oath and told the truth in the face of false testimony about our elections,” she said.
Trump appears to be tracking the testimony of witnesses, and wrote in a social media post Monday that Duncan “shouldn’t” testify, calling him a “total disaster.”
Georgia criminal law makes it a felony to directly or indirectly try to deter a witness from testifying in any court or before a grand jury.
Trump, in a social media post, railed against the investigation, which is related to his efforts to pressure Georgia officials to reverse his loss to President Joe Biden in the state’s popular vote.
“I just want to find 11,780 votes,” Trump told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a phone call in early 2021, days before Congress was set to confirm Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.
In his Truth Social post on Monday, Trump wrote: “Would someone please tell the Fulton County grand jury that I did not tamper with the election.”
“The people that tampered with it were the ones that rigged it, and sadly, phoney Fani Willis, who has shockingly allowed Atlanta to become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world, has no interest in seeing the massive amount of evidence available,” Trump wrote.
Trump was indicted in early August by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., on charges that he conspired with others to overturn his defeat in the national election in 2020.
He has pleaded not guilty in that case.
Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, also has pleaded not guilty in two other criminal cases: a federal case in Florida related to retaining classified records after leaving the White House; the other for allegedly falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
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