MSNBC’s Joy Reid sat with Atlanta journalist George Chidi on Thursday, who announced Monday that he had been subpoenaed for the second time to testify before a Fulton County grand jury looking into bringing criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
Contributing to the investigation of Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results, Chidi said he came upon a meeting of “fake electors” at the Georgia State Capitol in December 2020.
The Atlanta journalist also testified last summer before a grand jury that was weighing whether to recommend charges in the case.
On Thursday, Reid explained that DA Willis is a proponent of using Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, also known as a RICO Act. These laws are used to prosecute alleged criminal conspiracies.
“Since Willis took office, the use of the Georgia RICO statute in Fulton County has multiplied,” Reid said.
One of Willis’ high-profile indictments in Atlanta is rapper Young Thug, “who was arrested as part of a sprawling racketeering indictment alleging that he was the leader of a violent gang,” continued Reid. “Many are speculating that Trump and his allies could be charged under the same statute.”
Chidi went to the Georgia State Capitol in December 2020 to observe the electors meeting and “was a little concerned that political extremists may try to disrupt” the process, Chidi said.
President Joe Biden had won the state’s electoral votes, but Republicans were preparing their own slate of competing electors — which, Chidi noted earlier this week, was potentially illegal.
“As it happens, I recognized one of the Republican electors,” Chidi told Reid, “one of the people who would have been an elector.”
“He went into a room in the Capitol, and I thought that was curious,” continued the Atlanta journalist. “So I followed him in with my camera going, and lo and behold, I entered the room where it was happening.”
According to Chidi, “The Republican so-called ‘electors’ were having their meeting right then, and they pretty quickly threw me out of the room.”
“But before they did, I asked what they were doing,” said Chidi. “They said it was an education meeting. So they were not truthful with me, and because of that I have been subpoenaed to go and testify to that in front of the Trump grand jury, here in Fulton County.”
Chidi said, “The circumstances here are a little different because of the nature of what I’m being asked to testify to and the case.”
“Yeah, just a little bit different,” Reid responded sarcastically.
Watch the interview from “The ReidOut” in the video above.
