Former President Trump on Monday appeared to warn former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan against testifying before the Fulton County grand jury in the state’s 2020 election probe.

Driving the news: “I am reading reports that failed former Lt. Governor of Georgia, Jeff Duncan, will be testifying before the Fulton County Grand Jury,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Monday.

  • “He shouldn’t. I barely know him but he was, right from the beginning of this Witch Hunt, a nasty disaster for those looking into the Election Fraud that took place in Georgia.”
  • Duncan, who criticized Trump’s false election fraud claims in 2020, said Saturday that he had been told to appear Tuesday before the Fulton County grand jury.
  • “Republicans should never let honesty be mistaken for weakness,” he wrote in a post on X.

What’s next: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appears poised to issue a charging decision on Trump’s alleged efforts to subvert election results.

The big picture: Trump’s Monday Truth Social post comes days after the judge overseeing a separate trial — the federal probe into his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election — warned against making “inflammatory statements” that could intimidate witnesses in that trial.

  • U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan said during a Friday hearing that any appearance of witness tampering would increase the need for a speedy trial.
  • Trump already faces three criminal trials: In D.C. over efforts to overturn the 2020 election, in Florida over his retention of classified documents and in New York over an alleged hush money payment.
  • flossdaily@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I don’t know that I’d attribute any actual strategy to this.

    I think that’s a mistake that everyone had made about Trump from the beginning.

    “Oh, he’s a marketing genius!”

    Why? Because he put his name on everything? Maybe there’s a simple explanation: he’s a raging narcissist who likes putting his name on everything. The fact that his name is synonymous with being the top, or besting something is just his sheer dumb luck.

    The fact is, every single thing he’s ever done can be explained as being an expression of his narcissism and impulse control problems, combined with the fact that he faces zero consequences for his behavior no matter how awful.

    So, no, I don’t think he was testing the judge. I think he was just mindlessly attacking anyone who is a threat to him like he has always done in every situation.

    • snooggums@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      His grandfather changed the family name from Drumpf to Trump, so his family chose to name themselves as ‘on top’ intentionally. He just inherited the narcissism.

      • flossdaily@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s sad, really because if ever there was a person to match the sound “Drumpf”, it’s that sack of shit.

      • eestileib
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        1 year ago

        That kind of anglicization was very common for immigrants of all types a century ago. Like my own g’g’grandmother.

        There are plenty of reasons to dislike that whole family, that’s not one I hold against them, or anybody else for that matter.