Georgia grand jury foreperson laughs when told Trump claims he’s been ‘exonerated’

‘Did he really say that? Oh, that’s fantastic. That’s phenomenal. I love it’

The foreperson of Georgia’s special grand jury investigating the attempt by Donald Trump and his associates to overturn the 2020 election results in the state laughed when told that the former president claims to have been exonerated.

Emily Kohrs, 30, a resident of north Fulton, was asked to respond to Mr Trump’s claim of “total exoneration” on Tuesday.

She rolled her eyes and burst out laughing. “Did he really say that?” she asked. “Oh, that’s fantastic. That’s phenomenal. I love it.”

The former president had earlier posted on social media: “Thank you to the special grand jury in the great state of Georgia for your patriotism and courage. Total exoneration.”

When she was asked if she had any response, the grand jury foreperson said: “I invoke my Fifth Amendment right. That’s what I have to say to that.”

The special grand jury has recommended indictments against more than a dozen individuals on multiple charges in its report, only parts of which have been released.

Emily Kohrs (NBC News)

“It is not a short list,” Ms Kohrs, the grand jury’s foreperson, said. She said the jury appended eight pages of legal code “that we cited at various points in the report”.

Ms Kohrs served as the leader of the 23-person special grand jury, which met behind closed doors from May last year until January and heard testimony from 75 witnesses.

Her identity was unveiled early Tuesday.

In the interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Ms Kohrs said the gravity of the special grand jury’s work wasn’t lost on her. “I told my boyfriend at one point during the proceeding, during all this, I came home and I told him - Do you know that if I was in a room with Donald Trump and Joseph Biden and they knew who I was, they would both want to speak to me.”

She also described the experience of being on the special grand jury as “really cool”.