Demands for transparency and the online speculation the information generated put McIlrath in a difficult position. On the one hand, she has a legal obligation to be cautious about the evidence her office is gathering; on the other, her silence creates a vacuum for others to fill. “I know there is a void that is felt when some people speak out about something and others don’t,” McIrath wrote in a statement released in August. “If I were to fill that void and share information publicly, I would be crossing the line of the law.” In a recent statement released alongside the grand jury report, she called on lawmakers to pass “constitutional laws” to spread misinformation in a “constitutional manner.” “Anyone with an internet connection can become an influencer, take scraps of information, construct a narrative without context or first-hand knowledge, and spread it to thousands of people with little or no accountability for the truth or the consequences of what they do,” she said.
It was a thinly veiled admission that federal prosecutors had charged three people from three different states with threatening two officials and a witness related to the Wells investigation. The charges are the only real indication so far that the federal government has little interest in the case. The grand jury report briefly mentioned “an extensive investigation by federal and state law enforcement agencies,” but has not publicly stated what steps, if any, the Justice Department, the FBI, the U.S. Coast Guard or the National Park Service, which oversees the barrier islands including Horn Island, took to assist local authorities. Kristen Clarke, the former head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division under President Biden, is now the general counsel of the NAACP and is part of the Wells family’s legal team. Kristen Clarke joined Wells’ family on Tuesday and backed earlier calls from the Congressional Black Caucus urging an independent investigation into the department she once helped lead. “This is a taxpayer-funded agency that serves us,” she said. She turned her attention to McIlrath and said, “We have something to tell the DA. Your work is not done yet.”
The eight-page grand jury report largely appears to be an effort to debunk public speculation about Fourth of July travel. After a page of formalities, references to grand jury law and a demographic analysis of twenty-three grand jurors — twelve of whom self-identified as white, five as black, one Asian American, two Hispanic, two Native American and one labeled “other” — the report determined its purpose was also Innocence: “Grand juries are explicitly charged by circuit judges on the verge of collapse not only as a means of trying those accused of racial discrimination,” but “also to protect people from baseless accusations, whether made by law officials or others who may be motivated by public clamor or private malice.” “
The report lists the evidence considered by the grand jury, but doesn’t say much about the evidence itself: One hundred and thirty-two subpoenas were issued, and forty-three people testified. The report lists seven people “invited” by the grand jury to testify – possibly friends of Wells’, although those names have been redacted from the report. Five of the seven accepted the invitation; one wished but could not due to “external circumstances” [REDACTED] Control,” so the grand jury considered the man’s statements to law enforcement. Notably, one person declined the invitation to testify without explanation, although their statements to law enforcement were also considered. The report also documents, more or less, what is contained in the full investigative file, which includes physical and digital evidence, GPS, location and other information that remains largely in the hands of the state.