Fulton County prosecutors will share the identities of 30 unnamed and unindicted co-conspirators listed throughout a sweeping criminal indictment targeting alleged efforts from Donald Trump and his allies to overturn 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.
Attorneys for co-defendants Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, Trump-linked attorneys implicated in an alleged criminal enterprise that unlawfully rejected the former president’s loss, have asked a judge to compel prosecutors to reveal those names with them.
During a hearing in Atlanta on 14 September, prosecutors with the Fulton County District Attorney’s office agreed to share those names with the defendants, a practice that Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said is an “otherwise fairly routine part of the discovery” process as the case heads to trial.
Prosecutors also will request a protective order to conceal the names of those unindicted co-conspirators.
The hearing followed a decision from the judge to try Mr Chesebro and Ms Powell separately from the 17 other defendants in the case, including Mr Trump, who could also be tried with the other remaining defendants in the case, unless the judge agrees to sever others from the case.
A recently unsealed report from a special purpose grand jury tasked with investigating Trumpworld attempts to overturn 2020 election results revealed a much wider picture of the subsequent criminal case against the former president and his co-defendants.
That report – the product of an eight-month investigation separate from an Atlanta grand jury’s indictment – revealed that grand jurors recommend criminal charges against 39 people for nearly 160 counts of violations against more than a dozen state laws.
It also shed some light on likely co-conspirators listed in the criminal indictment, who are likely to include former Trump administration national security adviser and prominent election conspiracy theorist Michael Flynn, Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn, and Georgia’s current Lt Governor Burt Jones, among others, all of whom were recommended for prosecution in the special grand jury report but ultimately not criminally charged.
Attorneys for Mr Chesebro and Ms Powell also have asked for transcripts from a special grand jury that preceded the criminal case and to know “who those 75 people are who testified under oath” during that eight-month investigation.
Judge McAfee told attorneys that although they have a right to speak with grand jury witnesses, grand jurors already have “been through a lot” surrounding the closely watched case.
Mr Chesebro’s attorney Scott Grubman suggested that jurors could be interviewed by phone. Ms Powell’s attorney Brian Rafferty floated the idea to conduct interviews in person.
“The state is absolutely opposed to any of this,” said special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
