Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office denied leaking videos of co-defendants in former President Donald Trump’s Georgia 2020 election case to the media in an emergency motion for a protective order Tuesday.
ABC News and The Washington Post obtained videos Monday of co-defendants Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell and Scott Hall — the four defendants who have taken plea deals in the case.
Prosecutors’ motion for an order prohibiting the disclosure of discovery material states that the recordings were not leaked by the state and were only provided to defendants as required by law.
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“The release of these confidential video recordings is clearly intended to intimidate witnesses in this case, subjecting them to harassment and threats prior to trial, constitutes indirect communication about the facts of this case with codefendants and witnesses, and obstructs the administration of justice, in violation of the conditions of release imposed on each defendant,” the filing states.
“Going forward, the State will not produce copies of confidential video recordings of proffers to any defendant to prevent further public disclosure,” it continues. “Instead, defendants must come to the District Attorney’s Office to view confidential video recordings of proffers.”
Ellis stated during her testimony, obtained by ABC News, that Trump advisor Dan Scavino told her “the boss” was not going to leave “under any circumstances.”
Prosecutors included with their motion emails an attorney for defendant Harrison William Prescott Floyd sent Tuesday in response to another defense attorney’s question about whether the state had released the recordings.
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“It was Harrison Floyd’s team,” the lawyer said, according to the email included in the document. The lawyer followed up his email with another explaining the first “was a ‘typo’ and that Defendant Floyd’s team did not communicate with the media,” according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors filed an initial motion for a protective order over discovery materials on Sept. 27, but the court “has neither ordered a hearing on the State’s motion nor entered the requested order,” the motion states.
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