In addition to the Powell and Jenna Ellis videos, the Post got proffer videos from the other two defendants.
Although some of the recordings were garbled, the portions of the four statements that The Post was able to review — from Ellis, lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, and Georgia bail bondsman Scott Hall — offered many previously undisclosed details about the effort by Trump and his allies to reverse his defeat.
Chesebro disclosed in his recorded statement that at a previously unreported White House meeting, he briefed Trump on election challenges in Arizona and summarized a memo in which he offered advice on assembling alternate slates of electors in key battlegrounds to cast ballots for Trump despite Biden’s victories in those states. Chesebro’s recollection could provide evidence that Trump was aware of the elector plan.
The audible portions of the Fulton recordings reviewed by The Post do not appear to directly implicate Trump. At one point in Powell’s interview, she said Trump really believed he had won — a statement that could help his defense. But Powell also said that Giuliani spoke of a plan to gain access to voting equipment at a Dec. 18, 2020, meeting with Trump and others in the Oval Office. And Hall appeared to implicate another defendant, lawyer Robert Cheeley, describing Cheeley as part of the “brain trust” planning the Coffee County scheme. Giuliani spokesman Ted Goodman, asked to comment on the recordings, called the Fulton investigation a “farce” that should be dismissed immediately. A lawyer for Cheeley declined to comment.
Fulton County DA asks for protective order after leak of witness videos in Trump election interference case claims witness intimidation
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' office is seeking an emergency protective order after portions of videos from key witnesses in her election interference case against former President Donald Trump and others were leaked to two news outlets.
"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," the DA's office said in a court filing Tuesday after portions of the videotaped statements of lawyers Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro and bail bondsman Scott Hall were made public.
Judge Scott McAfee scheduled a hearing on the emergency motion for Wednesday.
“I think the case will be on appeals for years. But, I believe in that case, there will be a trial,” Willis said at an event hosted by The Washington Post on Tuesday. “I believe the trial will take many months. And I don’t expect that we will conclude until the winter [of 2024] or the very early part of 2025.”
In addition to the Powell and Jenna Ellis videos, the Post got proffer videos from the other two defendants.
In additional news
Fulton County DA asks for protective order after leak of witness videos in Trump election interference case claims witness intimidation
And still more news
Fani Willis predicts Trump’s Georgia trial could stretch into early 2025
“I think the case will be on appeals for years. But, I believe in that case, there will be a trial,” Willis said at an event hosted by The Washington Post on Tuesday. “I believe the trial will take many months. And I don’t expect that we will conclude until the winter [of 2024] or the very early part of 2025.”