The debate over the Trump grand jury forewoman's media blitz
The sharpest opinions on the debate from around the web


The Fulton County grand jury tasked with investigating former President Donald Trump's efforts to subvert Georga's 2020 election results has submitted its final recommendations to District Attorney Fani Willis, and forewoman Emily Kohrs wasted little time making the rounds to share what she could about her and her colleagues' work. And while Kohrs' interviews with major news outlets such as The New York Times, NBC, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution have indeed offered hints both cryptic and tantalizing as to whether Trump and his allies will face criminal charges and for what ("You're not going to be shocked. It's not rocket science," she told the Times) a growing chorus of pundits and legal observers have begun questioning whether Kohrs' expansive media blitz is causing more harm than good.
These interviews were wildly inappropriate
Kohrs' interviews are "an insult to the witnesses who have done their duty & come forward to get accountability," according to The View co-host and former Trump administration official Alyssa Farah Griffin, who described the forewoman's behavior as "unprofessional, unserious, and clearly biased."
"This person is coming off as someone seeking their 15 minutes of fame," quipped conservative legal commentator AG Hamilton, who framed Kohrs' NBC interview in particular as "insanely irresponsible." Other observers mused about Kohrs' conspicuously upbeat demeanor during her various media appearances, in which "she's clearly enjoying herself," prompting CNN's Anderson Cooper to admit he "was wincing just watching her eagerness to like, hint at stuff."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The hints could have potential legal ramifications
Already CBS News has reported that a number of attorneys for witnesses called by the Fulton County grand jury during their investigation have begun preparing to fight any forthcoming indictments based on Kohrs' being a "reckless idiot," as former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Bromwich stressed on Twitter. Indeed, even before CBS' report, CNN Chief Legal Analyst Elie Honig predicted that "prosecutors are wincing" at Kohrs' "horrible idea" to publicly discuss her work with such apparent glibness. "She's potentially crossing a line here," Honig said. "It's gonna be a real problem for prosecutors."
The issue is not so much that Kohrs isn't allowed to speak about her time on the grand jury, legal analyst Bradley P. Moss noted (she's just barred from discussing the deliberations themselves) — It's that her comments could be construed as "tainting the trial jury pool" and giving Trump's attorneys further cause to move any potential criminal case "out of Fulton County." The interviews may even "carry legal risk for her," beyond providing "Trump and others with arguments to challenge the indictments," former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti predicted.
Her media blitz shows the investigation was tainted from the start
At least according to former President Trump. "You have an extremely energetic young woman, the (get this!) 'foreperson' of the Racist D.A.'s Special Grand Jury, going around and doing a Media Tour revealing, incredibly, the Grand Jury's inner workings & thoughts," Trump fumed on his Truth Social platform. "This is not JUSTICE, this is an illegal Kangaroo Court."
A few questionable interviews don't negate the jury's conclusions
"I don't think this is worth freaking out about," MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin stressed in a lengthy Twitter thread. While acknowledging that Kohrs' interviews were potentially bad optics, "given that GA special grand juries are investigative, not charging, bodies & that GA law, unlike federal law, favors public disclosure of grand jury proceedings," Rubin expected that any motions to quash forthcoming charges based on the media appearances would "likely fail."
Ultimately, Rubin concluded, Kohrs' willingness to admit she'd been starstruck by witnesses like Lindsey Graham and Rudy Giuliani "revealed she is no Democratic partisan hack."
Longtime Republican Trump critic George Conway, husband of former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, agreed on Twitter and in a separate panel interview with MSNBC, admitting that although the interviews likely weren't "helpful," they didn't change the basic facts of a case in which "the evidence is the evidence."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.
-
July 13 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include new TSA rules, FEMA cuts, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy complimenting Donald Trump's new wardrobe
-
5 weather-beaten cartoons about the Texas floods
Cartoons Artists take on funding cuts, politicizing tragedy, and more
-
What has the Dalai Lama achieved?
The Explainer Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader has just turned 90, and he has been clarifying his reincarnation plans
-
Trump uses tariffs to upend Brazil's domestic politics
IN THE SPOTLIGHT By slapping a 50% tariff on Brazil for its criminal investigation into Bolsonaro, the Trump administration is brazenly putting its fingers on the scales of a key foreign election
-
'Trump's authoritarian manipulation of language'
Instant Opinion Vienna has become a 'convenient target for populists' | Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump set to hit Canada with 35% tariffs
Speed Read The president accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of failing to stop the cross-border flow of fentanyl
-
Could Trump really 'take over' American cities?
Today's Big Question Trump has proposed a federal takeover of New York City and Washington, D.C.
-
Trump threatens Brazil with 50% tariffs
Speed Read He accused Brazil's current president of leading a 'witch hunt' against far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro
-
Is the Trump-Putin bromance over... again?
Today's Big Question The US president has admitted he's 'p*ssed off' with his opposite number
-
SCOTUS greenlights Trump's federal firings
speed read The Trump administration can conduct mass federal firings without Congress' permission, the Supreme Court ruled
-
'The way AI is discussed makes it seem like this is a necessary outcome'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day