Christie: Trump grand jury foreperson ‘did a lot of damage’ to case

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said on Wednesday that the foreperson of the Georgia special grand jury investigating former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results “did a lot of damage” with her recent comments to the media.

“I think she did a lot of damage to the case,” Christie said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, but added that “she didn’t violate the law.”

“She’s under, as you know, no legal obligation not to talk. But we, when I was U.S. attorney [for New Jersey], we used to tell every grand juror, you know, ‘You put in all this work to help us conduct this investigation, please don’t talk about it publicly until we take some action, because you put us at risk,'” he continued.

Emily Kohrs, the forewoman of the Fulton County grand jury, discussed the group’s final report with several media outlets last week, suggesting that its anticipated charging recommendations would not come as a surprise.

But unlike a standard grand jury, the special grand jury in Georgia cannot issue an indictment, only recommendations. If Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wants to pursue an indictment, she will have to bring the case before a standard grand jury.

“I will tell you that if the judge releases the recommendations, it is not going to be some giant plot twist,” Kohrs said. “You probably have a fair idea of what may be on there. I’m trying very hard to say that delicately.”

Christie said on Wednesday that Kohrs’s comments “create a real challenge” for prosecutors if they decide to bring charges against Trump or his allies. 

“They’ll grab everything that’s a weakness and attach it to the lack of credibility of the grand jury itself, even though all of the other people of the grand jury may be incredibly serious folks who have not spoken publicly,” he said.

“I guarantee you they’ll subpoena [Kohrs] and put her on the stand,” Christie added. “And whatever her foibles are in addition to what we’ve already seen, they’ll be on full display in a courtroom.”

Trump’s lawyers already appear to be taking such an approach. Drew Findling and Jennifer Little, two of the former president’s defense attorneys, called the special grand jury “clown-like” in an interview with The Atlanta-Journal Constitution last week.

“This type of carnival, clown-like atmosphere that was portrayed over the course of the last 36 hours takes away from the complete sanctity and the integrity and, for that matter, the reliability,” Findling said.