The district attorney's office in Fulton County, Georgia, is seeking an emergency protective order after footage of key witnesses in its election interference case was leaked to the media.
It's a move that defendant Rudy Giuliani, a onetime New York City mayor and attorney to former President Donald Trump, has denounced as District Attorney Fani Willis "weaponizing the protective order process."
Among the witnesses whose videotaped statements were leaked to The Washington Post and ABC News are attorneys Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, and Kenneth Chesebro, as well as bail bondsman Scott Hall.
The four witnesses talked with prosecutors as part of the plea deals they cut with Willis in the case, which surrounds Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Willis argued in the court document motioning for a seal that the release of the recordings is "clearly intended to intimidate witnesses in this case" by subjecting them to "harassment and threats prior to trial."
It initially appeared that defendant Harrison Floyd's legal team admitted to leaking the tapes in an email sent to the DA's office. However, Floyd's team later claimed the email was a "typo."
A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. EST.
Ted Goodman, Giuliani's political adviser, told Newsmax that the order will only prevent defendants from publicly defending themselves while not hindering Willis' office's ability to leak.
"It's likely that Fani Willis and her office have been leaking all sorts of information to the press over the course of the past two and a half years in an effort to disparage President Donald Trump, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and the other defendants," Goodman said.
Goodman also noted that one of Powell's tapes, where she recalled a confrontational run-in with Giuliani, cleared Giuliani of any wrongdoing because it demonstrated his inability to work with her.
"There was a big shouting match in which Rudy called me every name in the book, and I was the worst lawyer he'd ever seen in his life," Powell said in the tape. "There were no circumstances under which he'd work with me on anything."
Luca Cacciatore ✉
Luca Cacciatore, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is based in Arlington, Virginia, reporting on news and politics.
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