Further recorded statements

In addition to the leaked videos of Ellis and Powell, the Washington Post obtained two others from Chesebro and Hall.

The Post [obtained portions of] statements of the four defendants who have accepted plea deals in the Georgia case — recordings that they were required to make under the terms of their deals and that were intended to lay out what they know that could be used against the other defendants in the case.

[...]

Chesebro disclosed in his recorded statement that at a previously unreported White House meeting, he briefed Trump on election challenges in Arizona and summarized a memo in which he offered advice on assembling alternate slates of electors in key battlegrounds to cast ballots for Trump despite Biden’s victories in those states.

[...]

The audible portions of the Fulton recordings reviewed by The Post do not appear to directly implicate Trump. At one point in [Sidney] Powell’s interview, she said Trump really believed he had won — a statement that could help his defense. But Powell also said that Giuliani spoke of a plan to gain access to voting equipment at a Dec. 18, 2020, meeting with Trump and others in the Oval Office. And Hall appeared to implicate another defendant, lawyer Robert Cheeley, describing Cheeley as part of the “brain trust” planning the Coffee County scheme.

[...]

Chesebro also disclosed for the first time that he played a role transporting documents signed by Wisconsin Trump electors to Capitol Hill as part of a Trump campaign plan to present Vice President Mike Pence with competing slates of electors.

[...]

Hall claimed that his role in the alleged breach of election equipment in rural Coffee County was simply that of a “political tourist,” and that he spent $10,000 of his own money to fly there on Jan. 7, 2021, purely “for s---s and giggles.” But he also complained that no one reimbursed him for the charter flight, explaining, “Pardon my French, but I’ve been f---ed through this whole thing.”

[...]

Chesebro told prosecutors that Trump asked “four or five questions” [in a Dec. 16, 2020, Oval Office meeting he attended] and that he summarized for Trump his Nov. 18, 2020, memo to the campaign in which he called Jan. 6, 2021, “the real deadline” for settling the state’s electoral votes — though it was unclear whether Trump reacted to his analysis.

[...]

Chesebro told prosecutors he began communicating directly with [Trump attorney John] Eastman in late December 2020 and helped edit a Dec. 23, 2020, memo in which Eastman laid out the various scenarios and described Pence as the “ultimate arbiter” of the election outcome.

Chesebro downplayed his role in the crafting of the “substance” of Eastman’s memo, telling prosecutors that he had “offered to help” edit.

“I was happy to express his ideas more clearly,” Chesebro said.

[...]

Chesebro downplayed his role in the crafting of the “substance” of Eastman’s memo, telling prosecutors that he had “offered to help” edit.

“I was happy to express his ideas more clearly,” Chesebro said.

Chesebro repeatedly said he didn’t recall his reaction to Eastman’s legal theories at the time. But one prosecutor pointed to a Dec. 23 email sent by Eastman to Epshteyn and Chesebro with the draft that Chesebro had edited.

“Really awesome,” Chesebro wrote.

Asked why he replied that way, Chesebro insisted it wasn’t an endorsement of Eastman’s ideas.

“It was a really great brainstorm document. I didn’t mean it as I agreed,” Chesebro said.

  WaPo

Totally believable.

Chesebro claimed after hearing part of Trump’s [January 6 Ellipse] speech he joined the throngs of Trump supporters as they marched toward the U.S. Capitol building. The former Trump attorney said he walked near the building at the same time as right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones — a moment captured on videos first reported by CNN.

The former Trump campaign attorney insisted he did not know Jones and had not previously spoken to him and that their simultaneous arrival was mere coincidence.

[...]

Chesebro repeatedly claimed he did not know what was happening on Capitol Hill, including that Trump supporters had violently breached the Capitol building. He said he saw nobody entering the building and saw no violence. He told prosecutors that he “wandered” around for “an hour, an hour and a half” before going back to the Trump hotel where he saw footage of the assault airing on a television near the bar and realized the full extent of the attack.

[...]

Chesebro claimed he did not communicate with any Trump allies that day.

Really?

Hall’s video recording was meandering and, on multiple occasions, his unwillingness or inability to answer the questions caused his own lawyer, Jeffrey Weiner, to become even more exasperated than the prosecutors.

Hall described [co-defendant attorney Robert] Cheeley as part of a “brain trust” — and himself as a “water boy” — in organizing the foray into Coffee County. He also said he was just a “political tourist” who wanted to observe the effort to copy data from the county election office.

“I was curious,” he said.

[...]

Hall also said Cheeley played a role in trying to locate Freeman, the Fulton election worker — and probably enlisted his help doing so, given his skill set as a bail bondsman, but he claimed not to recall for sure.

“Bob would have probably called me and said, you know, hey, you know, we’re trying to locate this person,” Hall said.

The biggest shit in his entire life and he just can't recall.

 

She missed a step there by not asking for that prior to releasing the videos in discovery, it seems.

UPDATE 12:56 pm:  It wasn't Willis' misstep...

Did the judge miss this?  

Willis and her team originally requested a protective order over evidence in the case on Sept. 27.

[...]

During a hearing in the case last month, before Powell, Chesebro and Ellis entered guilty pleas, McAfee asked about the status of that proposed protective order and a defense attorney for Chesebro said the order was still being negotiated between prosecutors and the numerous defense attorneys on the case.

  WaPo

Well that's not good.  It could be, however, that the judge's question served as a reminder to one of the unscrupulous participants (defense, I presume*) that there was still time to leak.

“These confidential video recordings were not released by the State to any party other than the defendants charged in the indictment, pursuant to the discovery process as required by law,” the filing said. “The release of these confidential video recordings is clearly intended to intimidate witnesses in this case, subjecting them to harassment and threats prior to trial, constitutes indirect communication about the facts of this case with codefendants and witnesses, and obstructs the administration of justice, in violation of the conditions of release imposed on each defendant.”

Prosecutors said they would no longer share “confidential video recordings of proffers” to any defense attorneys involved in the case and said they must view those statements in person at the district attorney’s office. “They may take notes, but they will be prohibited from creating any recordings or reproductions.”

[...]

Steve Sadow, the lead Georgia attorney for Trump, emailed prosecutors saying the leak of the recordings did not come from him or another co-counsel on the case and asked prosecutors if someone in the district attorney’s office disclosed it to the media.

“The State had nothing to do with leaking any information to the media!” Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor and lead government attorney on the case, replied.

An attorney for Harrison Floyd, a Trump ally charged for his alleged role in the harassment of election worker Ruby Freeman, replied to the chain on Tuesday morning, writing, “It was Harrison Floyd’s team.” Prosecutors said in the filing Floyd’s attorney later said that statement was a typo and Floyd’s team had not shared the information with the media.

UPDATE 03:29 pm:

So maybe a misstep by Willis' office after all.

What happens to the negotiations?

*UPDATE 11/16/2023:  Yes.  It was the defense.

At the hearing on Wednesday, the district attorney's office consented to a protective order [in which the state would specifically designate certain evidence as sensitive] drafted by attorneys for defendant David Shafer.

McAfee said he would draft the order based on Shafer's proposal.

  Raw Story

UPDATE 12/15/2023: The apologies.