Newt Gingrich won’t have to testify before special grand jury in Georgia

By Sara Murray, CNN

A battle to compel former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich to testify before a special grand jury in Georgia has come to an end after the case was dismissed Thursday.

Gingrich had been ordered to appear before the grand jury and was in the midst of appealing that decision when the grand jury concluded its work in January. Both Gingrich’s legal team and the Fulton County district attorney’s office asked the appeals court to dismiss the case.

“The parties and the Office of the District Attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, agree that the order dissolving the Special Purpose Grand Jury ‘moots the request’ for Gingrich’s testimony,” according to an order from the appeals court.

Prosecutors in Georgia had hoped to ask Gingrich about his work with the Trump campaign after the 2020 election, including the scheme to send fake elector certificates to the National Archives and allegedly encouraging the campaign “to air advertisements promoting the false narrative that election workers had smuggled suitcases containing fake ballots at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta,” according to court filings.

Georgia prosecutors have been investigating efforts by former President Donald Trump and his associates to overturn the 2020 election there. No one has been charged in the case so far.

Portions of the highly anticipated report from the special grand jury were released Thursday. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ordered the limited release earlier this week, writing in his order that the report’s introduction and conclusion, as well as concerns the grand jury panel had about witnesses lying under oath, will be made public.

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CNN’s Devan Cole, Marshall Cohen, Katelyn Polantz and Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.