US Authorities Investigate Threats to Grand Jury After Trump Indictment
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Authorities in Georgia said they are investigating threats against members of the grand jury that indicted former United States President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies.
According to reports on Thursday, the personal data of the 23 jurors and three alternates – including images and addresses – was published on various “fringe” websites, some with ties to right-wing conspiracy theories.
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat’s office said that investigators are working to trace the origin of the threats after the names of grand jury members and other personal information were posted online. The sheriff’s office said other local, state and federal law enforcement agencies were assisting.
“We take this matter very seriously and are coordinating with our law enforcement partners to respond quickly to any credible threat and to ensure the safety of those individuals who carried out their civic duty,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement, Al Jazeera reported.
A Fulton County grand jury returned a 41-count indictment on Monday charging Trump and 18 others with illegally conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.
Though the grand jury proceedings were secret, the unredacted names of the grand jury members were included in the indictment, which is standard practice in Georgia, in part because it gives criminal defendants a chance to challenge the composition of the grand jury. The indictment itself is a public record.
Trump announced on Thursday that he had called off a news conference next week to unveil what he claimed was new “evidence” of fraud in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, citing the advice of lawyers as he prepares to face trial in two criminal cases in Washington, D.C., and Georgia that stem from his election lies.
Trump had announced that he would be holding the event hours after the Georgia grand jury voted to charge him and others in a conspiracy to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election and stop the peaceful transition of power.
