Georgia Grand Jury Recommended Charging 39, Including Lindsey Graham, Report Reveals

A special investigative grand jury initially recommended charges against 39 individuals in the Georgia case that resulted in criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and 18 others, a report revealed Friday.

Who Escaped Charges? A separate grand jury later chose not to indict 21 people whom the initial grand jurors recommended charging, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), former Sens. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA), former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn, and lawyers Lin Wood and Cleta Mitchell.

For Context: The 23-person jury’s report was finalized in January and sealed at the request of Fulton County DA Fani Willis. While jurors were divided on some of their recommendations, they were nearly unanimous in recommending charges against Trump and some of his allies, including attorney Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Trump and others are charged with engaging in a “criminal racketeering enterprise” that allegedly included harassing election workers, forging official documents, and attempting to persuade officials to unlawfully overturn the election result. 

How the Media Covered It: Coverage was prominently featured in mainstream political news outlets across the spectrum, with the apparent exception of Fox News (Right bias). Some coverage from the right framed the charges as against “alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results,” rather than as against “alleged participation in a racketeering enterprise,” as some on the center and left noted.