Donald Trump apparently has Georgia on his mind as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis calls in a final round of witnesses before a grand jury is expected to complete its work this week.
The former president is expected to face new charges over allegations that he attempted to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, and he spent Monday morning posting attacks on Willis and witnesses in the case on his Truth Social platform – including former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who Trump singled out and urged not to testify, while also misspelling his first name.
"I am reading reports that failed former Lt. Governor of Georgia, Jeff (sic) Duncan, will be testifying before the Fulton County Grand Jury," Trump posted. "He shouldn’t."
"I barely know him but he was, right from the beginning of this Witch Hunt, a nasty disaster for those looking into the Election Fraud that took place in Georgia," Trump added. "He refused having a Special Session to find out what went on, became very unpopular with Republicans (I refused to endorse him!), and fought the TRUTH all the way. A loser, he went to FNCNN!"
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Duncan, who is now a CNN contributor, confirmed he had been called to testify Tuesday before the grand jury, but said he doesn't know what prosecutors would ask him about, and legal experts and others agreed Trump's post was a clear attempt at intimidating the former lieutenant governor.
"This morning’s first attempt at witness intimidation," said attorney George Conway, whose wife Kellyanne served in Trump's White House.
"Witness tampering in real time," tweeted former U.S. attorney Barbara McQuade.
"Trump needs to be behind bars without access to social media while he awaits trial," posted Mark Jacob, former editor for the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times. "This is attempted witness intimidation. If Trump's lawyers can't stop him from committing mob-style witness intimidation, they should quit. Otherwise they're accomplices."
"Trump is now explicitly telling a witness slated to testify Tuesday that he shouldn't testify," tweeted Washington Post columnist Aaron Blake. "Georgia law makes it illegal 'For any person knowingly to use intimidation' With intent to 'Influence, delay, or prevent the testimony of any person in an official proceeding' To 'Cause or induce any person to: Withhold testimony.'"
"Trump is flirting with a new witness tampering charge in Georgia, but he didn't 'explicitly' tell Duncan not to testify," wrote attorney Gabriel Malor. "Trump said Duncan 'shouldn't' testify, apparently bc Trump thinks Duncan shouldn't want to reprise his supposed failure to discover 'the Election Fraud.'"
"Notable: In this post, Trump doesn’t say that Duncan should testify in support of something Trump claims to be true, or that Duncan should testify against something Trump claims to be false," tweeted Bulwark columnist William Saletan. "He says Duncan shouldn’t testify at all. It’s purely an exhortation not to cooperate."
"He is now taunting grand jury witnesses in Georgia," posted national security lawyer Bradley Moss. Just begging for trouble from whatever judge gets assigned that case if, as expected, Willis indicts him tomorrow."
"Which of Trump's Truths *aren't* witness intimidation these days?" said television producer Robert Schooley. "I guess the ones that are jury tampering."
