State senator who testified.......

Former Georgia state senator who testified in election probe says grand jury took its role "very seriously"

From CNN

Jen Jordan, a former Democratic Georgia state senator who was the first witness to testify before the Fulton County grand jury, commended the jury for their role in the 2020 election probe that resulted in the indictment of former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants.

"When I walked in there and sat down, it was clear that every man and woman in that room was taking, you know, their role and their job very seriously," Jordan told CNN.

"I can tell you with respect to grand juries in Georgia, they really lead the process," she said. 

Jordan was asked about the faster-than-expected pace of the proceedings on Monday.

"Maybe there were two days that were planned to be chock-full of witnesses, but after two or three had gone, it was clear that the evidence, at least from my perspective, is fairly overwhelming," she added.

"So ... probably after two, three, four witnesses, you know, probably from the grand jurors' perspective, they had heard what they needed to hear and really just to make sure that all of the witnesses that they needed to hear with respect to all of the charges included in the indictment, that they were able to get through it by the end of the day," she said.

Jordan said the grand jury took a serious approach to their questioning.

"They asked followups. They pushed me. ... They definitely weren't being spoon-fed and they, you know, it really seemed to me that they wanted to do a good job," she said.

Asked about specifics that she was asked, Jordan said, "They wanted to know more about (Rudy) Giuliani, why was it odd? How as this different than other Senate Committee hearings? I had to be very clear this was something I had never seen before, the fact that Giuliani and Ray Smith and the rest of Trump's legal team, including Jenna Ellis, were allowed to basically take over the Georgia Senate and present in a way that was very one-sided, that other witnesses that could offer a counter weren't allowed, and that with respect to minority party members we weren't really — we had no clue what was happening."

For background: In December 2020, Jordan was at the Georgia Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing about election integrity during which Giuliani, then a Trump lawyer, and other supporters of the former president spread conspiracy theories about widespread irregularities and fraud in the state. At the hearing, Trump’s team presented a video of what they claimed was evidence of fraud from election night ballot tabulating in Fulton County, allegations that were investigated by the FBI, Department of Justice and state election officials – and proven to be erroneous.

Jordan said she was in front of the grand jury first to "really kind of set the scene and kind of begin the story, because really from my perspective, what happened in Georgia was just the implementation of the overall plan at the federal level." 

"I think with respect to Georgia, it is so important that we actually hold folks accountable here for what they did and trying to overturn the election and really, you know, try to undermine our democracy. And it looks like the district attorney is willing to do that," she said.