ATLANTA — The chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, David Shafer, reportedly has testified before the Fulton County special grand jury examining former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
CNN reported Shafer's appearance before the special grand jury on Thursday, citing "a source with knowledge of the investigation."
Shafer becomes the latest among high-profile state Republicans - including Gov. Brian Kemp, Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan - called before the special grand jury.
Of those, though, he is the only one actually implicated in the investigation.
He was earlier notified via a target letter from District Attorney Fani Willis that he could be indicted for his participation in the "alternate electors" scheme following the election to in which Republicans in several states, including Georgia, submitted illegitimate electoral college votes in favor of former President Donald Trump.
It's not clear what sort of testimony Shafer might have provided. At a hearing earlier this month in which lawyers for Shafer and other "alternate electors" sought to have Willis disqualified from their case, those attorneys argued there was virtually no question Shafer and the others would answer before the special grand jury for which they wouldn't invoke the 5th Amendment.
According to CNN, Shafer has previously told the U.S. House Jan. 6 Committee that the plan to submit the illegitimate Electoral College votes originated with, and was directed by, the Trump campaign.
Shafer was among the those on the illegitimate slate of Georgia Republican electors submitted to the National Archives. He did so, according to a motion that had attempted to dismiss his subpoena, because he was part of a lawsuit at the time challenging the election result and they believed if a judge found that Trump had actually won, their electoral slate would become valid.
The New York Times reported this week that inside the Trump White House, the fake electors scheme was concocted as a means of throwing a wrench into the counting of electoral votes by Vice President Mike Pence, a largely ceremonial formality that devolved into chaos on Jan. 6, 2021.
The lawyers for Shafer and the other Georgia "alternate electors" did not succeed in having Willis disqualified from their case. Attorneys for state Sen. Burt Jones - the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor - were, however, handed a victory by Judge Robert C. I. McBurney in disqualifying the DA solely from Jones' potential case.
Among the other high-profile figures involved in the Fulton County probe, Rep. Jody Hice was denied in his attempt to dismiss his subpoena this week. A similar ruling was issued against South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Rudy Giuliani and other high-profile lawyers from the Trump team in 2020 are also among those to have been subpoenaed, as well.