Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis argued in a legal filing on Tuesday that attorney-client privilege should not be extended to legal memos and emails written by pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who she indicted in August for the legal strategies he gave former President Donald Trump and his campaign in support of their 2020 election contest in Georgia.
In response to Chesebro’s request to have a handful of memos and emails stricken, citing his attorney-client privilege with the Trump campaign, Willis and Fulton County argued the “documents formed the bases for a criminal conspiracy” to “unlawfully overturn” the 2020 election results, and thus “cannot receive the protections afforded to lawful attorney communications or documents.”
Chesebro’s memos and emails pertained to the legal strategies and messaging behind the creation of a separate, Republican slate of electoral college electors that Trump’s legal team maintained were necessary to preserve the former president’s legal challenge contesting the election results.
In addition to her claims that Chesebro’s documents furthered a criminal conspiracy, Willis asserts Chesebro has not proven the attorney-client relationship, nor that the documents “substantively” qualify for protection. Willis also seemed to suggest that significant media coverage of the documents should preclude them from protection.
The documents Chesebro asked to be stricken from the case were previously included by the House January 6 committee in their call for Trump to face a criminal investigation over his election contest, and were widely reported by the media as Willis’ case against Trump became clear in August. Willis seems to allude to this, writing any protection “has been waived by their dissemination outside any attorney-client relationship.”
A hearing was held on Tuesday afternoon by Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee, who did not make a ruling, but instead asked Chesebro’s legal team to submit additional documents to support their claim that Chesebro’s emails and memos should be protected by attorney-client privilege. Fulton County was also advised to provide a supplemental response.
Jury selection for the trial of Chesebro and co-defendant Sidney Powell will begin on October 20, with the trial slated to start on October 23. McAfee severed a joint case against Chesebro and Powell from Willis’ greater Georgia Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act indictment against Trump and his 2020 allies last month, after the two attorneys asserted their right to a speedy trial.
Only a handful of witnesses have been revealed, and Willis’ legal team previously claimed each trial would require testimony from 150 in total. So far, Willis has revealed through legal filings that she intends to call longtime Trump ally Boris Epshteyn, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), and former New York Police Department commissioner Bernie Kerik as high profile witnesses.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Fani Willis” by Fani Willis.
