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A grand jury in Georgia has been sworn in to consider charges against Donald Trump and his allies in their attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in that state. The office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has helmed the investigation into the former president and his allies for more than two years, following Mr Trump’s pressure campaign targeting state officials to reject the results. Ms Willis began investigating Mr Trump shortly after his call to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, who was pressed to find “11,870 votes” – just enough needed for then-President Trump to beat Joe Biden in the state. A special grand jury previously heard testimony from 75 witnesses, including aides and former attorneys to Mr Trump. That jury concluded its report in January with recommendations for state prosecutors to bring charges that will soon be reviewed by the newly impaneled grand jury. The investigation is among several facing the former president, who is separately the subject of a US Department of Justice special counsel probe into his attempts to subvert the election. He also faces 37 federal charges stemming from the alleged mishandling of dozens of sensitive government documents and has been criminally charged in New York City on fraud-related charges from hush-money payments to bury potentially damaging stories about his affairs in the leadup to the 2016 election. Mr Trump has repeatedly rejected any charges and investigations against him in several jurisdictions as political “witch hunts” and has called the Democratic elected prosecutor in Atlanta, who is Black, “racist” and a “lunatic Marxist.” He has similarly characterised prosecutors in Manhattan, where was found liable for sexual abuse, hit with a $250m lawsuit from the state attorney general, and criminally charged with more than 30 counts of falsifying business records. Ms Willis has previously suggested that any potential charges stemming from the grand juries could come in August. What happens now? The new grand jury in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta and surrounding suburbs, was sworn in on 11 July. Two jury panels selected at a courthouse in downtown Atlanta each have 26 participants. One of those panels will handle the Trump investigation. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who previously handled the special grand jury that collected evidence in the investigation, will preside. What happened to the special grand jury? Roughly one year into her investigation, Ms Willis took the unusual step of asking for a special grand jury to rely on its subpoena power to compel testimony from witnesses who otherwise would not be willing to talk with prosecutors. That special grand jury was seated in May 2022 and concluded its work in January 2022. A list of witnesses included former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, US Senator Lindsey Graham and former Senator Kelly Loeffler, and five members of Mr Trump’s legal team, including Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and “fake elector” architect John Eastman, among several others. In all, the grand jury heard from roughly 75 witnesses before dissolving in January. As a judge heard arguments on 24 January whether to publicly release the grand jury’s report, Ms Willis said that a decision from her office on whether to bring criminal charges was “imminent”. A partially released report from the special grand jury shows that jurors unanimously agreed that “no widespread fraud took place” in Georgia’s election following interviews with election officials, analysis and poll workers. It also includes a recommendation that prosecutors seek indictments for “one or more” witnesses who likely committed perjury, and it will ultimately be up to her office to “seek indictments where she finds sufficient cause”. The publicly released filing does not include witness names, names of people recommended for indictments, or other recommended charges. Who could be charged in the case? Lat year, Ms Willis’s office sent letters warning several people – including fake electors and Mr Giuliani – that they could face charges in the case. She also may be considering a wider set of charges that Ms Willis has made a career out of bringing against dozens of others. The state’s anti-racketeering RICO statute – typically used to break up organized crime – has been used by her office in indictments against more than two dozen people connected to a sprawling Atlanta hip-hop empire, 38 alleged gang members, and 25 educators accused of cheating Atlanta’s public school system. The RICO Act allows prosecutors to bring charges against multiple people that they believe committed separate crimes while working toward a common goal. How common are regular grand juries? Two grand juries are typically seated in Fulton County in each two-month term of court. They usually meet every week – one on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other on Thursdays and Fridays. Their work takes place behind closed doors, not open to the public or to news media. What will they do? Georgia law requires an indictment from a grand jury to prosecute someone in most felony cases. When prosecutors present a case, they’re trying to convince the grand jurors that there is probable cause that one or more people committed crimes and to get the grand jurors to agree to bring charges against them. For each case, prosecutors read or explain the potential indictment and then call witnesses or present any other evidence. Any witnesses who testify must swear an oath to tell the truth. Often in Georgia, the only witnesses the grand jury hears from are law enforcement officers, including investigators for the district attorney’s office. They can tell the grand jurors what they’ve learned in their investigation, including what suspects or witnesses have said and what other evidence they have. Members of the grand jury are allowed to question witnesses. In general, a person who is named as a defendant on the potential indictment cannot be called to testify before the grand jury. After a case is presented, members of the grand jury convene to deliberate the case and whether to vote for a “true bill” or a “no bill” indictment, the former meaning that there is probable cause to believe a person committed a crime. A “no bill” means jurors did not believe a person committed a crime or that there is not enough evidence to indict them. An indictment is then presented in open court. Additional reporting from the Associated Press Read More Who is Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who could take down Trump Trump news – live: Trump wants classified documents trial delayed to after 2024 as Georgia grand jury meets Ethics board recommends Rudy Giuliani be disbarred for ‘destructive’ attempts to undermine 2020 results Trump valet charged in classified documents case set again for arraignment after earlier delays

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A Fox News host has claimed that she was “turned on” by reports of Joe Biden’s alleged bad temper and foul mouth. Lisa Kennedy said that she had enjoyed an Axios report that current and former aides were reluctant to meet with the president because of his volatile moods. “Swearing at people, it’s a quirk,” Kennedy said on Monday’s Outnumbered show on the right-wing network. “It kind of turned me on when I heard that the president gets angry and volatile, I’m not gonna lie.” Her stance amused her four co-hosts on the show, which led her to clarify her feelings for the Democratic president. “I’m disappointed by just about every single thing he’s done as president,” she insisted. Mr Biden’s former aides told Axios that they often brought a colleague to meetings to try and blunt the president’s temper. “God dammit, how the f*** don’t you know this?!” He was quoted as yelling on at least one occasion. Another Biden aide said that he also shouted “Don’t f***ing bulls*** me,” at one point and threw another staffer out of a meeting by saying, “Get the f**k out of here.” “There’s no question that the Biden temper is for real. It may not be as volcanic as Bill Clinton’s, but it’s definitely there,” Chris Whipple, author of The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House, told Axios. Read More Biden privately loses his temper and yells at staffers, report claims Biden blames busy schedule for skipping Nato leadership dinner Why are we so obsessed with world leaders’ heights?

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US president Joe Biden was in the UK this week to meet with prime minister Rishi Sunak at Downing Street and with King Charles III at Windsor Castle, keen to reaffirm that the “special relationship” between America and Britain remains as “rock-solid” as ever before jetting out to the latest Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. The meetings also served to underline the difference in height between the men, with Mr Biden standing 6 feet (ft) tall and unavoidably towering over both His Majesty and Mr Sunak, who measure 5ft 8 inches and 5ft 6 respectively. The Democrat is of fairly average height for an American president, however, as there have been 13 occupants of the White House taller than him, including his former boss Barack Obama (6ft 1 ½) as well as John F Kennedy (6ft 1), Ronald Reagan (6ft 1), George Washington (6ft 1 ½), FDR (6ft 2), Bill Clinton (6ft 2 ½) and Donald Trump (6ft 3). The tallest man to hold the post was Abraham Lincoln, who measured 6ft 4 even without his signature stovepipe hat, which must have posed a persistent danger to the light fixtures during his time in the Oval Office . Mr Sunak’s relatively short stature was last in evidence when he posed for a photograph with Westminster’s tallest MP, Daniel Kawczynski, a 6ft 9 heap of Conservative. During his time as chancellor in March 2021, Mr Sunak posed for another picture in which he rather artfully positioned himself at the top of the stairs of No 11 brandishing the famous red Budget box, which forced his fellow Treasury ministers to line the steps below him, making them look far smaller. For the record, this is how the PM compares with his predecessors: Liz Truss (2022-22) – 5ft 5¼ Boris Johnson (2019-22) – 5ft 9 Theresa May (2016-19) – 5ft 6 David Cameron (2010-16) – 6ft ½ Gordon Brown (2007-10) – 5ft 11 Tony Blair (1997-2007) – 6ft Sir John Major (1990-97) – 5ft 11 Baroness Margaret Thatcher (1979-90) – 5ft 5 James Callaghan (1976-79) – 6ft 1 Sir Harold Wilson (1964-70, then 1974-76) – 5ft 8 Sir Edward Heath (1970-74) – 6ft Sir Alec Douglas-Home (1963-64) – 6ft Harold Macmillan (1957-63) – 6ft Sir Anthony Eden (1955-57) – 5ft 11 Winston Churchill (1940-45, then 1951-55) – 5ft 6 Clement Atlee – 5ft 7 Mr Sunak’s height makes him 1.96 inches shorter than the average adult man in Britain, according to the Office for National Statistics, which appears to be of greater concern when it comes to politicians than for the rest of us, particularly in America. But that does not seem to be the case in every country. France, for one, has remained admirably unflustered by the prospect of short statesmen, from Napoleon Bonaparte (5ft 5½) to Emmanuel Macron (5ft 8) by way of Nicolas Sarkozy (5ft 5) and Francois Hollande (5ft 7). Elsewhere, Angela Merkel and the late Silvio Berlusconi were both 5ft 5, President Lula of Brazil triumphed over Jair Bolsonaro at the polls last year despite being 5ft 4 to his opponent’s 6ft 1 and both Russia and Ukraine are currently led by men of just 5ft 7 in the shape of Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky. Bonaparte has, of course, lent his name – however reluctantly – to the “Napoleon complex”, a pop-psychological label commonly handed out to anyone thought to be overcompensating for their lack of height by behaving in an excessively assertive or domineering manner, which would certainly go some way towards explaining certain contemporary political figures like Mr Putin. In Spain, where the 6ft 6 King Felipe VI constantly requires press photographers to take a step backwards when he is gladhanding guests at official occasions, Jorge Francisco Santiago – a professor of politics at Madrid’s Camilo Jose Cela University – assured El Pais that there is no meaningful correlation between “centimetres and political success… because the vast majority of citizens understand that political competence, honesty, empathy or even charisma do not depend on something as superficial as height”. However, he acknowledged that there are “ingrained social perceptions or false generalisations” that tend “to associate height with virility, or attribute ambition, aggressiveness or cunning to short men” of which political advisers are aware and have to bear in mind on the campaign trail and during TV debates as they assess every detail in order to give their candidate the best possible chance of success. Professor Santiago advised readers of the newspaper to look out for low angles in campaign videos and on posters and for candidates wearing tight shirts or shorter ties as dead giveaways of efforts being made to conceal their height. He also warned taller candidates, citing 2004 US presidential candidate John Kerry as an example, not to stoop out of deference to a shorter opponent but to shamelessly make the most of the advantage they have, even if it is all only a matter of perception. Mr Kerry’s “unconscious gesture of humility hurt him, because it made him look uncomfortable in his own skin,” Professor Santiago observed. Ultimately, what damages candidates most appears to be their betraying that they themselves are preoccupied with the issue, as was the case with Mr Sarkozy or, more recently, with Republican presidential contender Ron DeSantis, who has already been ridiculed by Mr Trump for wearing heeled cowboy boots to appear taller. Writing about the “significance” of Mr Sunak’s stature when he took office last year, one GQ columnist wrote that the PM’s preference for trick photography tactics, presumably to project a greater aura of authority, meant that he had “betrayed short men”. “The reason Rishi has killed the era of the short king isn’t because he’s short and awful – although he is both. It’s because he has refused to own it,” said Imogen West-Knights. “Short men should be outraged at Sunak, who has spent his whole time in the political limelight trying desperately to distance himself from their ranks.” In Vilnius, he will run into world leaders of a range of sizes, from outgoing Dutch PM Mark Rutte (6ft 4), Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, both 6ft 2, to German chancellor Olaf Scholz (5ft 7) and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni (5ft 4). Mr Sunak should perhaps be thankful that Serbia is not yet a member of the alliance, given that its absence means he will not have to peer blinking upwards at the 6ft 6 frame of that country’s president, Aleksandar Vucic. Read More Zelensky hits out at lack of Vilnius summit timetable for Ukraine to join Nato How tall is Joe Biden? Heights of world leaders ranked as Nato gathers for summit What is Nato and why was it formed? Budget 2022: Hunt says UK in recession as he announces huge tax rises Jeremy Hunt increases energy windfall tax in budget Jeremy Hunt freezes tax allowances and hits 45p rate payers

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