Dec. 8 (UPI) — Michael Flynn testified Thursday before a Georgia grand jury that is investigating Republican attempts to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Flynn, the national security adviser for former President Donald Trump, entered the courthouse in Atlanta early Thursday morning flanked by a heavy security presence. He testified at the order of a federal judge in Florida who ruled last month that Flynn is a necessary witness for the case in Georgia.
Flynn appealed the order to testify but was denied.
The grand jury testimony was held behind closed doors with media and onlookers barred from observing.
The special grand jury is investigating allegations that Trump and other prominent Republicans attempted to subvert the results of the 2020 election in Georgia. Trump, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and others made contact with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, allegedly pressuring him into tossing out mail-in ballots in an attempt to reverse the election’s results.
Graham testified in the probe last month after he failed to procure protection from the Supreme Court. Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani has also testified.
Prosecutors in Fulton County are specifically seeking information about a Dec. 18, 2020, meeting between Flynn, Trump, Trump’s then-attorney Sidney Powell and others, according to a petition by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. It is believed this was a significant meeting because the idea of overturning the results of the election was masterminded at this time.
The petition alleges that during the meeting, strategies such as invoking martial law and seizing voting machines were discussed as avenues to overturn the election and keep Trump as president.
Willis has been unrelenting in bringing in Trump associates for testimony, writing to lower courts and the Supreme Court to demonstrate the necessity of those testimonies.
In Willis’ petition to Superior Court of Fulton County Judge Robert C. I. McBurney, she wrote that Flynn is a “necessary and material witness” to the special grand jury’s investigation.
Flynn was pardoned for “any and all possible offenses” by Trump on Nov. 25, 2020, about three weeks before the meeting in which plans to overturn the election were discussed.
“The witness possesses unique knowledge concerning communications between himself and other known and unknown individuals involved in the multi-state, coordinated efforts to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere,” Willis wrote in the petition.
Georgia State law professor Clark Cunningham told Fox 5 Atlanta that Flynn was unlikely to answer any questions.
“Well, he’s almost certainly going to take the fifth for every question asked,” Cunningham said.
Flynn approached his testimony before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol the same way when asked about his role.
