Trump lawyer Giuliani now target of criminal probe of election interference in Georgia – National & International News – TUE 16Aug2022

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani now target of Georgia election interference probe. Australia: Former PM Morrison secretly appointed himself to five Cabinet positions.

NATIONAL NEWS

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani now target of Georgia election interference probe

Attorneys for Rudy Giuliani say the Fulton County Georgia District Attorney’s office has informed them that Giuliani is now the target of a criminal probe into the Trump campaign’s attempts to interfere in Georgia’s presidential election count. Giuliani is a personal attorney for former President Trump and was instrumental in the “Stop the Steal” campaign.

District Attorney Fani Willis initiated the criminal probe several months ago, which has now gone to a special grand jury. Previously, Giuliani was classified merely a witness or subject of the investigation. He’s scheduled to appear before the grand jury in a closed door hearing on Wednesday. It’s unclear at this time what prompted Willis to elevate Giuliani from a witness to a target of the probe, nor is it clear what crimes he may potentially be charged with. The investigation is still in the fact-finding phase, and Giuliani’s change in status may indicate that new facts have recently come to light.

Trump’s pressure campaign in Georgia

Following Trump’s loss, Giuliani appeared before Georgia lawmakers and made a number of outlandish claims of voter fraud and election fraud. Among other things, Giuliani claimed that two black women poll workers were “quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they’re vials of heroine or cocaine“.

The two women, a elderly mother and adult daughter, recently testified before Congress that they were passing ginger mints, not USBs. The women also said that they have since lived in fear and have received numerous death threats.

The investigation is also examining a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between then-President Trump and Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The phone call was recorded, and in the audio Trump can be heard urging Raffensperger, the state’s top election official to “find 11,780 votes”, one more than Trump needed to overturn Biden’s win in the state. During the call, Trump also said it was “dangerous” for Raffensperger to insist there were no irregularities in the vote.

A judge has also ordered Republican Senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham to testify before Willis’ special grand jury. The jury has questions about a phone call between Graham and Raffensperger. Graham is a witness rather than a target of the investigation.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Australia: Former PM Morrison secretly appointed himself to five Cabinet positions

Scott Morrison served as Australia’s Prime Minister from 2018 until May of this year when he lost resoundingly to his rival Anthony Albanese of the Labor Party. At that time, Morrison also stepped down from leadership of the Liberal Party (whose politics are center-right, despite the name).

It’s now come to light that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Morrison had himself secretly appointed to co-lead five of his own government’s ministries, assuming equal decision-making power to the actual Cabinet Secretaries heading those departments. In some cases, the Cabinet members had no idea that they were sharing their positions with Morrison.

Between 2020 and 2021, Morrison effectively became joint-minister of his government’s Ministries of Health, Finance, Resources, Home Affairs and Treasury. During that time, Morrison’s government received just criticism of its handling of the pandemic, especially its haphazard lockdown policies and poor performance in the vaccine rollout. Before the pandemic, Morrison was pilloried for his shambolic response to devastating wildfires.

Current PM Albanese said he would seek legal advice about Morrison’s actions, calling them “unacceptable” and “just weird”. Albanese also said that Morrison’s secrecy “undermined democracy”.

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