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A special grand jury probing interference in the 2020 US presidential election in Georgia had recommended charges be filed against several prominent Republican figures and Donald Trump allies, including US senator Lindsey Graham, according to a report released on Friday.
Other individuals the panel said should be indicted for allegedly engaging in a “national effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election” were two former Republican senators from Georgia, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, as well as Michael Flynn, a retired three-star general who later served as national security adviser to Trump.
Graham, Perdue, Loeffler and Flynn were not ultimately among the 19 people, including Trump, who were charged in a sweeping indictment last month brought by Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis over alleged meddling in the 2020 election.
Other defendants who were charged in the Georgia case include Rudy Giuliani, a former lawyer for Trump, and Mark Meadows, who served as the former president’s chief of staff during the election. They have pleaded not guilty, as has Trump.
The special grand jury was convened to investigate the aftermath of the vote, as Trump and his allies scrambled to prevent losing Georgia to Joe Biden.
The sprawling criminal case in Georgia is the fourth to be brought against Trump in recent months. He has also been indicted for alleged efforts to interfere with the election results by Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by US attorney-general Merrick Garland to investigate Trump.
Smith also charged Trump in a separate case over classified documents found at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Earlier this year, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg also charged Trump in connection with alleged hush money payments to a porn actress.
Loeffler’s organisation Greater Georgia and Graham did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Perdue and Flynn could not immediately be reached for comment.
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