Photograph: Tom Williams/Getty Images Georgia prosecutors seek protective order after Trump case video leaked
Request follows release of 'confidential video' » recordings of Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Ken Chesebrough
Fulton County prosecutors have asked the judge overseeing the 2020 election subversion case against Donald Trump and his co-defendants in Georgia. Immediately place an “emergency” protective order on the discovered materials to prevent potential future leaks of evidence.
The request comes after several media outlets published details of videotaped statements that former Trump lawyers Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro made as part of plea deals to avoid trial on racketeering charges by co-defendants along with the former president.
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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis previously asked for a protective order against the discovery of materials in the case. But citing the leak of several interviews with the «proposers,» Willis on Tuesday renewed the request to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee.
“The release of these confidential videos is clearly intended to intimidate witnesses, — the document says, — subjecting them to harassment and threats before trial, constitutes indirect communication about the facts of this case with co-defendants and witnesses.»
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he and 18 co-defendants engaged in racketeering and conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. To date, three former Trump lawyers and a local Republican operative have reached plea deals.
The actual motivation for the leaks was unclear. Ellis' testimony, for example, was widely seen as damaging to Trump, and the attempt to obtain a protective order amounted to an aggressive play by prosecutors to suppress discussion of proposals leading to a trial.
Willis also said in the suit that she would take the unusual step of refusing to send copies of the videos to defense attorneys, and that they would instead have to watch the tapes in her downtown Atlanta office, where they could only take notes.
In a separate 2020 federal election subversion case brought against Trump in Washington, a protective order was issued for whistleblowing material almost immediately after Trump was indicted. But the special prosecutors did not force Trump's lawyers to just review the discovery in person.
In their submission to the judge, prosecutors disclosed some of the correspondence they had with a pair of defense lawyers about the leaks, including with Trump lawyer Steve Sadow asking the district attorney's office to say they had not disclosed the material.
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“The state had nothing to do with the leak of any information to the media!” responded Nathan Wade, one of the lead prosecutors in the case.
But then, when asked Tuesday morning, the email chain said, «It was Harrison Floyd's team.» The lawyer later said the statement was a typo and not a leak.
Willis first requested the protective order on Sept. 27. The delay in issuing the protective order, according to a person familiar with the case, is due to lengthy negotiations between the district attorney's office and all 19 co-defendants over the wording of the order.
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