Atlanta prosecutors building the case to jail Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election are scrambling to stop leaks to journalists before trial, asking a judge to step in during an “emergency” court hearing Wednesday that came with a surprise confession by a defense lawyer.
Jonathan R. Miller III, an attorney representing a fired county election employee charged with taking part in Trump’s election meddling efforts in Georgia, revealed that he was the one who leaked a video that caused a news firestorm earlier this week.
On Monday, ABC published videos showing one-time MAGA-loyal lawyers Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis dishing damning details to prosecutors as part of their recent plea deals to flip on Trump. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis immediately had her team renew an urgent request that the judge seal off access to documents shared between law enforcement and defendants before trial, leading to today’s court hearing.
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More than a dozen defense lawyers representing many of the case’s 19 defendants took turns agreeing to keep things quiet for now—that is, until one spoke up.
“With all candor,” Miller told the judge, “I did release those videos to one outlet.”
His unexpected admission sparked a hearty discussion about the American public’s growing interest in the historic case, which could disrupt the 2024 election by forcing the leading Republican presidential candidate into a lengthy criminal trial just as voters go to the polls next year—and potentially imprison Trump whether he wins or not.
When the judge asked Miller why he found it appropriate to leak the proffers—sitdowns with prosecutors that essentially amount to confessions—Miller defended his actions by saying that the videos added missing context to the public’s perception of the case.
“Judge, all four of those people who did their proffers. They stood in front of you. They did their plea. It was all recorded… to hide those proffers that show all the underlying things that went into those pleas misleads the public about what’s going on,” Miller said.
“And I don’t believe either one of those hurt my client. They helped my client. The public needs to know that,” Miller said.
Miller represents Misty Hampton, who was fired from her position as the elections officer supervisor in Georgia’s rural Coffee County, where she played a key role in allowing a band of misfits to illegally access voting system computers in a hamfisted attempt to search for evidence of supposed election fraud. Fulton County prosecutors accused Powell—a conspiracy theorist lawyer who filed hopeless lawsuits across the country seeking to overturn the 2020 election results to favor Trump—of coordinating that covert mission to Coffee County. Powell’s proffer session with prosecutors was one of the videos that was leaked earlier this week.
In court on Wednesday, the judge seemed unconvinced that journalists should have access to such evidence before trial, expressing a concern about “having open files to have people start litigating the case before we’re inside a courtroom.”
Miller pushed back, saying that disclosing some evidence would counter the way his client keeps getting vilified in the press.
“This is a very very public trial. We all know that. That allows the DA’s office to set the tone to the entire trial without giving consideration to the other side of the coin. The public has a right to know,” he said.
“Well, that’s a good slogan. But do we have any case law that says pretrial discovery is part of our First Amendment concerns?” McAfee responded.
When a lawyer representing media companies fought against any restrictions, prosecutors reiterated their worry that their evidence will keep getting disseminated. The judge seemed to side squarely with the DA’s office—though he acknowledged there’s little case law allowing for a “blanket” restriction on this kind of information.
“We’re a bit unmoored in Georgia on this issue,” he said.
McAfee gave no indication that he would punish Miller for leaking the videos. He expects to issue a ruling in the next day or so.
