Former President Trump on Monday appeared to warn former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan against testifying before the Fulton County grand jury in the state’s 2020 election probe.

Driving the news: “I am reading reports that failed former Lt. Governor of Georgia, Jeff Duncan, will be testifying before the Fulton County Grand Jury,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Monday.

  • “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.”
  • Duncan, who criticized Trump’s false election fraud claims in 2020, said Saturday that he had been told to appear Tuesday before the Fulton County grand jury.
  • “Republicans should never let honesty be mistaken for weakness,” he wrote in a post on X.

What’s next: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appears poised to issue a charging decision on Trump’s alleged efforts to subvert election results.

The big picture: Trump’s Monday Truth Social post comes days after the judge overseeing a separate trial — the federal probe into his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election — warned against making “inflammatory statements” that could intimidate witnesses in that trial.

  • U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan said during a Friday hearing that any appearance of witness tampering would increase the need for a speedy trial.
  • Trump already faces three criminal trials: In D.C. over efforts to overturn the 2020 election, in Florida over his retention of classified documents and in New York over an alleged hush money payment.
  • nyoooom@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The thing is that the prosecutors have to play by the rules to get him, which takes time, but recently the claws definitely seems to be closing in on him, and the prosecutors have bemig weapons and trump can’t stop the system.

    Right now it’s like a tank going very slowly toward Trump, sure it takes time but if the tank operator does everything right, it will get there eventually.

    • Marmotter@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I feel like the whole “the jaws of justice are slowly closing around trump” comment is the narrative version of that looping gif of the truck almost running into the bollard. Academically, I agree with you. But I’m pretty sure the dude is going to be dead from one of the innumerable heath issues he faces before he sees any real consequence. Time will tell I guess, but like others, I’m not holding my breath. If there were any real justice in the world, trump would have died from Covid. That would have at least been poetic justice for his role in that colossal tragedy.

      • nyoooom@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I totally feel what you’re saying and that is scary, but the big difference now is that there are trial dates, we are not in the “at some point” phase anymore.

    • Helldiver_M@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      And allowing witnesses to be intimidated is like allowing trump to have a Javelin in your tank analogy. For the cases to be prosecuted correctly, the necessary witnesses need to give their testimony without fear of retaliation. He needs to be put into pre-trail detainment.