EXCLUSIVE: Behind the scenes of the Trump grand jury

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution interviewed five members of the special purpose grand jury to gain a better understanding of its workings.

The jurors discussed details surrounding their eight months on the panel but declined to talk about their internal deliberations or share their indictment recommendations.

One juror said she would cry in her car after hearing from witnesses whose lives had been upended by disinformation and claims of election fraud.

Two-hundred Fulton residents were summoned, but judge quickly whittled down pool quickly.

Jurors were assigned numbers based on the order in which they arrived at the courthouse.

They rarely had advance notice of who witnesses would be testifying, and many had at least at one point been close to Trump.

One juror described how the 75 witnesses they heard from fell into three buckets.

Jurors heard from Bo Rutledge, dean of the University of Georgia law school and former clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Jurors estimated as many as 10 witnesses invoked their Fifth Amendment rights, some doing so even when asked to describe their education.

One juror said the panel was told repeatedly by prosecutors that they should not perceive someone invoking the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination as an admission of guilt.