‘It Just Smells Bad’: CNN Analyst Says That Talkative Grand Juror Could ‘Taint The Prosecution’ Of Trump, Allies
Harold Hutchison on February 22, 2023
A CNN legal analyst said Wednesday that comments by the forewoman of a Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury could “taint the prosecution” of former President Donald Trump and others.
“If someone was on a grand jury for several months and ultimately came to a conclusion that a defendant should be charged with a crime, certainly, they’re invested in it and have a right to say that it’s disappointing, that it happened,” Elliot Williams, a former federal prosecutor, told “CNN Newsroom” co-host Victor Blackwell.
Emily Kohrs, the forewoman of a special grand jury that investigated the former president and his allies for their efforts to contest the 2020 presidential election’s result, gave multiple interviews on cable networks, including CNN and MSNBC, saying she anticipated indictments to result from the probe and expressing excitement at the possibility of confronting former President Trump. Kohrs also said that Trump’s name was mentioned often during the special grand jury proceedings and told CNN host Kate Bouldan that “there are no major plot twists waiting for you,” according to Fox News.
“The problem is that in making the statement, she’s undermined the integrity and the independence of the grand jury,” Williams continued. “It now appears that they are just an arm of whether it’s the elected prosecutor or sort of political opponents of people who might be charged with crimes. And it just sort of smells bad, even if, by the letter of the law, nothing – no law was broken by any of those statements.”
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Kohrs also said she would feel “sad” if Trump was not indicted as a result of the probe, Fox News reported, adding that Kohrs laughed when Trump claimed the excerpts from the special grand jury’s report would exonerate him.
“Here’s the problem that is created with a statement like that, Victor. The entire Fulton County Georgia could potentially be – anybody in Fulton County who’s sort of over the age of 18 can be a potential juror in this trial,” Williams said. “They’re hearing now evidence that’s going to be presented before them at trial and developing opinions about it, developing opinions about defendants. That, too, can taint the prosecution. If this individual who we’re hearing from really wants these people charged with crimes so badly, she better shut her mouth about them, because ultimately, she could imperil their convictions.”
A representative for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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