Global Courant 2023-05-06 04:43:31
Eight of the so-called fake voters who tried to give Georgia’s electoral votes in the 2020 election to former President Donald Trump instead of President Joe Biden have agreed to immunity deals with the prosecution, according to a new lawsuit.
Seven of the voters sat for interviews with representatives from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office in April before accepting the deals, the court said. The eighth was out of the country, but also accepted. The filing did not disclose the terms of the immunity deals.
President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally on Thursday, April 27, 2023 in Manchester, NH
The revelation came in a document filed Friday by voters’ attorney Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow, in response to a request from the public prosecutor that Debrow be disqualified as attorney for the eight voters with immunity agreements, in addition to two others who do not have immunity agreements.
The lawsuit was first reported by CNN.
“Debrow’s continued participation in this case is fraught with conflicts of interest that mount to the level of disqualifying her altogether from this case,” District Attorney Fani Willis told the court in an April 18 indictment, days after prosecutors met with the eight voters on immunity deals.
Willis wrote that the prosecution offered immunity in 2022, but another attorney who worked with Debrow came back to the prosecution and said the clients were not interested. However, some of these clients told members of the research team in their interviews that no potential immunity offer had ever been made to them in 2022.
In addition, Willis said some voters said during their interviews that “another voter, represented by Ms. Debrow, committed acts contrary to Georgia law and that they were not a party to these additional acts.” The document did not name that voter.
The filing cited Georgia’s Code of Professional Conduct, which states that attorneys may not represent a client if there is a risk that an attorney’s interests or duties to “another client, former client, or third person materially and will adversely affect. Willis said Debrow’s clients have signed waivers regarding potential conflicts of interest, but they aren’t enough.
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In the 68-page filing filed Friday and signed by Debrow revealing the existence of the immunity deals, the eight voters with immunity deals called Willis’s allegations “complete fiction” and that the request to disqualify Debrow from being their attorney ” factually and legally unfounded.” They asked the court to pay the costs of her motion.
The eight voters in question make up half of the 16 people who met at the Georgia Capitol on December 14, 2020 and signed a certificate falsely declaring that Trump had won the presidential election and called themselves the “duly elected and qualified” voters declared by the state.
Willis’ office said in July that each of the 16 people had a target of her researchwhich examines whether Trump and his allies committed crimes while trying to reverse his narrow election loss.
Willis said late April that criminal charges could come between July 11 and September 1. She announced on Monday in letters to local law enforcement agencies that she would sue Trump this summer and warn them of “significant public backlash” when the grand jury results are announced.
While the grand jury could decide whether or not to indict, and did not specifically name Trump, it asked for “heightened security and preparedness” during that period.
A new charge against the former president – and current candidate for the White House — would create further complications for both the 2024 election and the future of the Republican Party, where Trump remains a front-runner for the presidential nomination.
Contributing: USA TODAY reporter Bart Jansen and The Associated Press
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Prosecutor of Georgia Grand jury investigating Trump could rule on charges this summer
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Eight alleged bogus Trump voters accept immunity deals under investigation in Georgia
