)Eight alleged fake Trump electors in Georgia accept immunity deals in grand jury probe
Erin Mansfield, USA TODAYFri, May 5, 2023 at 4:43 PM PDT
Eight of the so-called fake electors who sought 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, a new court filing shows.
Seven of the electors sat in April for interviews with representatives of the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office before accepting the deals, the court filing says. The eighth was out of the country, but also accepted. The filing did not disclose the terms of the immunity deals.
The revelation came in a document filed Friday by the electors’ lawyer, Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow, in response to a request from the prosecution that Debrow be disqualified as the lawyer for the eight electors with immunity deals in addition to two others who do not have immunity deals.
The court filing was first reported by CNN.
“Debrow's continued participation in this matter is fraught with conflicts of interest that rise to the level of her being disqualified from this case in its entirety,” District Attorney Fani Willis told the court in a filing on April 18, days after the prosecutors met with the eight electors about immunity deals.
Willis wrote that the prosecution had offered immunity in 2022, but that another lawyer working with Debrow came back to the prosecution saying the clients weren’t interested. However, some of these clients in their interviews “told members of the investigative team that no potential offer of immunity was ever brought to them in 2022.”
Additionally, Willis said some of the electors said during their interviews that “another elector represented by Ms. Debrow committed acts that are violations of Georgia law and that they were not party to these additional acts.” The document did not name that elector.
The filing cited Georgia’s professional conduct rules saying that lawyers should not represent a client if there is a risk that a lawyer’s interests or duties to “another client, former client, or third person will materially and adversely affect the representation of the client. Willis said Debrow’s clients have signed waivers regarding any potential conflict of interest, but they are not enough.
In the 68-page filing submitted Friday and signed by Debrow that disclosed the existence of the immunity deals, the eight electors with immunity deals called Willis’ allegations “complete fiction” and that the request to have Debrow disqualified as their lawyer is “factually and legally baseless.” They asked the court to pay for the cost responding to her motion.
The eight electors in question make up half of the 16 people who met at Georgia's state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, and signed a certificate declaring falsely that Trump had won the presidential election and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.
Willis' office said in July each of the 16 people was a target of her investigation, which is examining whether Trump and his allies committed any crimes while trying to overturn his narrow election loss.
Willis said in late April that criminal indictments could come between July 11 and Sept. 1. On Monday, she signaled in letters to local law enforcement authorities that she would be indicting Trump this summer, warning them about “significant public reaction” when grand jury results are announced.
While the grand jury could decide to indict or not, and she did not specifically name Trump, she asked for “heightened security and preparedness” during that period.
A fresh indictment of the former president — and current White House candidate — would add further complications to both the 2024 election and the future of the Republican Party, where Trump remains a frontrunner for the presidential nomination.
Contributing: USA TODAY reporter Bart Jansen and The Associated Press
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.
