Appearing on MSNBC on Saturday afternoon, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance praised the work being done in Georgia where Donald Trump and members of his inner circle are being investigated for election tampering following his loss of the state in the 2020 presidential election.
Speaking with host Alex Witt, Vance said the work being done by a grand jury in the state appears to be moving apace and that -- with more witnesses appearing and more information being brought forward -- there appears to be a growing chance that a criminal referral will be made.
"If you just look at his [Trump's] conduct on his face, calling state officials, asking them to find additional votes that he needs, you know, that's the sort of conduct that clearly rings the bell for criminal interference with an election," Vance explained. "It's complicated, because there are difficulties involving the First Amendment, involving official power, and frankly, it is a big burden to put on a district attorney in one county in Georgia, to ask her to shoulder that burden when others haven't. But Alex, I still have taped to the wall in my office the exact number of votes he asked for: 11,780. It's been in front of me all these months, because if you simply think about what he did, asked them to find him one more vote than he needed to win Georgia, a crucial state, there is no way that we can ignore that conduct. Perhaps it's lawful, but awful. But increasingly, as more facts come to light, it looks like it's simply unlawful."
As for the slow pace of the grand jury, she added, "It says that they're doing the right thing and the fact that we don't know more, while it's frustrating, means that this process is proceeding precisely as it should, cloaked in the secrecy of the grand jury. Their job now is to get all of the evidence, not just the evidence that favors bringing charges but evidence that would tend to be in the favor of the former president so that they can evaluate all of that evidence and make a decision based solely on the facts and the law as to whether he should be charged."
"What about criminal liability?" host Witt asked. "Could it extend to Trump allies, those like [Rudy] Giuliani who played a major role in perpetuating and spreading the big lie?"
"That's precisely the issue that they're likely focused on in this grand jury proceeding," Vance replied. "Other people made calls to Georgia officials. There was other conduct surrounding the big lie. It's possible that there could be conspiracies or that people could be accomplices in this regard and, if you take this conduct seriously as a prosecutor -- and you should -- your obligation is to evaluate everyone who was involved to determine who is criminally culpable and who should be charged."
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