ATLANTA — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wants a judge to remove six of the defense attorneys in the upcoming election interference case.
That’s because she said they previously represented clients who are now witnesses in this trial.
Willis insists they can’t represent their clients and then cross-examine their former clients. She said they could “compromise the rights of certain witnesses should those witnesses be cross-examined by their former attorneys.”
The attorney for one of the defendants accused Willis Thursday of filing the motion to gain a tactical advantage less than a month before trial.
One of the attorneys pointed out by Willis is Scott Grubman. He represents Kenneth Chesebro in the election interference case. He also represented Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as he testified before the special purpose grand jury.
Channel 2′s Richard Elliot was there that day as Grubman walked into the courthouse with Raffensperger.
Raffensperger will be a witness in the prosecution’s case against Chesebro.
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But in his own filing, Grubman insisted this is not a problem since he said he has a written waiver from Raffensperger.
He also fired a shot at Willis in his response.
“It certainly raises the distinct possibility that the state improperly held onto this information until just under 30 days before trial in order to gain some sort of tactical advantage,” Grubman wrote.
Longtime former prosecutor Chris Timmons doubts the judge will grant Willis’ motion or that it was done to gain a tactical advantage.
“I expect it to be denied,” Timmons said. “I think it’s a motion that you want to have on the record, just to make sure that people’s rights are protected, particularly the former clients. I think it’s probably an issue that needs to be explored and that’s probably what they’re doing, but I don’t think it’s going to result in any sort of tactical advantage.”
Elliot did hear back from three other attorneys in this case: Don Samuels, Amanda Clark Palmer, and Chris Anulewicz.
All of them told Elliot there was no conflict and one plans to get waivers from his former client.
Also Thursday, Grubman filed his list of 52 potential witnesses including Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, CNN political commentator Van Jones, and RNC chair Rhonna McDaniel, and he wants the judge to suppress four pieces of evidence in this case.
Former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, also one of the 18 defendants in this case, is asking for a jury trial in federal court even before that judge has decided if he’ll move Clark’s case to federal court.
Chesebro’s trial, alongside Sidney Powell’s, is scheduled to begin at the end of October.
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