CNN’s Hosts Say ‘Quirk’ Of GA Law Could Have ‘Chilling Effect’ On Justice System As Jurors Fear For Their Safety

Georgia grand jurors who returned the criminal indictments against Donald Trump and 18 co-conspirators for election tampering are being threatened online due to exploitation of a “quirk” in the state’s legal system, according to CNN’s Paula Reid.

“This is a quirk of Georgia law that the names of grand jurors are on one of the first few pages of the indictment,” Reid said. “I was actually very surprised to see it the night we were covering the indictment. We don’t see that in the other cases.”

The public release of the names was taken advantage of by some, who then exposed more personal information about the jurors online, or what is called “doxxing.”

“This is the way Georgia does this, in the interest of transparency. But of course, here there are repercussions, the facts that these people have been doxxed.” Reid continued:

You have what purports to be their pictures, their addresses, out there on the web. And we know that that could have a chilling effect. It’s interesting, one of the women who testified in this case, a former Democratic state senator, Jen Jordan, she said outright, she said, “Things like this, this could make it more difficult for prosecutors to be able to seat a trial jury if people are worried for their safety and that of their families.”

The Washington Post reported that photos of at least two jurors were posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, while some names “popped up in pro-Trump extremist forums.” The Post quoted Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, who explained the law.

“It’s a matter of public record. Georgia has always been proud of the fact that the court system is a very open process here. I have not found a case — that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist — that allows us to keep grand jurors’ names secret.”

CNN’s Jim Sciutto added, “I spoke to a Republican lawyer yesterday who said, as you say, those laws were designed for transparency, but they may not match this time when the attacks on the system are so frequent and often so violent.”

“And some states have an option,” Reid said. “Some states have an option if there is the public interest or a security concerns outweigh, right, the need for transparency. And that could have been the case there if they had had that option.”

Watch the clip above via CNN.