S9, Ep. 4: A Guilty Mind?

07/11/22 • 46 min

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The fourth episode of “The Trump Grand Jury,” the ninth season of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Breakdown podcast, focuses on criminal intent as part of the podcast’s continuing coverage of the Fulton County special purpose grand jury that is investigating what Donald Trump and his allies did in Georgia following the 2020 president election.

If a criminal indictment is ultimately brought, prosecutors must show criminal intent – that Trump and others knew what they were doing was illegal and that they meant to break Georgia law.

During a phone call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, Trump said he needed to “find 11,780 votes.” That was exactly how many he needed to overturn the presidential election results in Georgia.

Trump also told Raffensperger “there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you’ve recalculated” the vote totals.

But Raffensperger held firm, saying he believed in the official vote count, which showed Trump had lost in Georgia.

This phone call is at the heart of the special purpose grand jury’s investigation and legal experts are divided on whether it shows Trump had criminal intent. And, somewhat surprisingly, it is not a matter that falls neatly along party lines – even some of Trump’s harshest critics say they don’t see a crime.

Breakdown’s fourth episode also looks at the possible defenses the president could raise if an indictment is returned. No president or former president has ever been indicted. So if this happens the prosecution, the defense and the courts will be breaking new ground.

“There are all kinds of hurdles the prosecution would have to overcome with prosecuting an ex-president,” Atlanta criminal defense attorney Don Samuel says on the podcast. “It wouldn’t surprise me if that ends up in the U.S. Supreme Court before it ever ends up in a courtroom.”

You can download the Breakdown podcast from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting platform. You can also stream it on your computer from ajc.com.

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If a criminal indictment is ultimately brought, prosecutors must show criminal intent – that Trump and others knew what they were doing was illegal and that they meant to break Georgia law.

Trump also told Raffensperger “there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you’ve recalculated” the vote totals.

But Raffensperger held firm, saying he believed in the official vote count, which showed Trump had lost in Georgia.

You can download the Breakdown podcast from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting platform. You can also stream it on your computer from ajc.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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S5, Ep. 12 The Tex McIver Case: Georgia Supreme Court strikes again

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Breakdown podcast drops a special episode on Friday for Season 5: “The Tex McIver Case.”

McIver, an Atlanta lawyer, was convicted of murder during a trial in Fulton County for killing his wife on Sept. 25, 2016.

The killing happened when Tex and Diane McIver returned home to Atlanta from their 84-acre ranch in Putnam County. Diane McIver’s best friend, Dani Jo Carter, was driving the Ford Expedition. Diane McIver was sitting in the front passenger seat, her husband sitting behind her in the back seat.

After they exited the downtown connector on Edgewood Avenue, Tex McIver asks for his .38-caliber handgun that’s in the center console. He later says he thought they had come upon a Black Lives Matter protest.

They leave the area without incident and drive along Piedmont Avenue toward Buckhead, with McIver still holding the revolver in his lap. When they get to an intersection, McIver fires a bullet through the backseat. It hits his wife in the back and she later dies during surgery at Emory University Hospital.

McIver tells police that it was a tragic accident, that the gun went off after he had fallen asleep and was suddenly awakened. But he is eventually indicted for murder and convicted of it during a 2018 trial.

Returning to Breakdown’s fifth season, Episode 12 follows the McIver case through its appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court which issued its opinion on June 30. Just eight days before, the state high court had reversed another high-profile murder case against Justin Ross Harris who had left his 22-month-old son Cooper in his hot car to die.

This time, the court overturns McIver’s conviction in another momentous decision.

You can download the Breakdown podcast from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting platform. You can also stream it on your computer from ajc.com.

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S9, Ep 5: The out-of-state witness subpoenas

The fifth episode of “The Trump Grand Jury,” the ninth season of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Breakdown podcast, recaps a busy period for the special purpose grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump and his allies.

There are a flurry of witnesses coming in to testify about what happened at the state Capitol in the weeks after the November 2020 presidential election. There is a courtroom scuffle over legislative immunity. And there is the issuance of seven out-of-state material witness subpoenas that penetrate former president Trump’s inner circle.

Recipients of the subpoenas include attorneys Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Cleta Mitchell. Also on the receiving end was U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

In an interview with Breakdown, District Attorney Fani Willis said the pushback was expected.

You can download the Breakdown podcast from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or your favorite podcasting platform. You can also stream it on your computer from ajc.com.

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