Thread by @AnnaBower

🚨By order of Judge Robert McBurney, the Georgia special purpose grand jury investigating 2020 election interference by Trump and his allies is dissolved. The grand jury voted to make its report public. A hearing will be held on Jan. 24 to determine if it will be published.

Potential next steps for Fulton DA Fani Willis, should she choose to pursue criminal charges: seek indictments from a regular grand jury.

Some clarification on what this means: The special purpose grand jury (SPGJ) is not authorized to issue indictments; it can only recommend indictments. The dissolution of the SPGJ is normal and tells us nothing about whether indictments were recommended or not...

If the DA chooses to pursue criminal charges, she will need to seek indictments from a regular grand jury. There is nothing in the law that says the DA has to wait for the SPGJ's report to become public before she presents evidence and seeks indictments from regular grand jury..

...Though she might wait for political or normative reasons.

What's unclear to me is whether the SPGJ's report can be presented as evidence to the regular grand jury prior to its publication.

One thing I suspect we will see in coming weeks: Efforts by potential targets of the investigation to review, redact, or expunge the report prior to publication.

Read about that and more in my @lawfareblog special purpose grand jury explainer: lawfareblog.com/everything-you…

Just recorded a @lawfareblog podcast with @benjaminwittes and Fulton Co. dream team @TamarHallerman @AnthonyMKreis.

Lots of unknowns, but one thing we all agreed on: If Fani Willis seeks criminal charges, indictments could drop at any time -- even before the hearing on Jan. 24.

Some of y’all are asking what McBurney meant when he said “Unresolved is the question of whether the special purpose grand jury’s report constitutes a presentment.” I talk about presentments in my @lawfareblog explainer but stay tuned for a 🧵 on it

lawfareblog.com/everything-you…