Attorney Kenneth Chesebro argued that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis may have violated his privileged communications with clients during her blanket search of his email account, according to legal filing made by his lawyers on Thursday.
Chesebro (pictured above), who is among those indicted by Willis in her racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and those who helped him contest the 2020 election, alleged that Willis and her office violated Georgia law when it gained blanket access to Chesebro’s email account in July, according to his lawyers’ filing. Chesebro is asking Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to suppress any evidence gathered from those emails.
In the filing, Chesebro’s attorneys allege that Georgia law only allows investigators to access attorney documents if there is probable cause to believe the evidence they seek will be destroyed. However, the attorneys said Willis issued a preservation order to Microsoft, the company that manages Chesebro’s MSN email account, “months” before requesting the search warrant to gain access. The lawyers argue that Willis had no reason to believe the emails could have been destroyed.
Additionally, the lawyers claim Willis broke a Georgia law “designed to minimize the intrusiveness of a search of an attorney’s documents” when her office neglected to contact Chesebro’s legal counsel before the search. This, the lawyers claim, means there was no process to ensure her office did not review documents protected by attorney-client privilege.
On Wednesday, Chesebro’s attorneys argued in a separate filing that McAfee should suppress five emails they believe are privileged, attorney-client communications made during his official capacity as a lawyer representing Trump’s campaign, made about litigation to contest the 2020 election.
The lawyers cited precedent in a similar case involving constitutional attorney John Eastman, who has faced disbarment proceedings for his legal advice to the Trump campaign after the 2020 election. Eastman was ordered to surrender thousands of documents to Congress for its January 6 committee, but a federal court ultimately determined one document was privileged because it “substantially engages with potential litigation” and determined that Eastman did not need to provide it to Congress as a result.
According to Chesebro’s lawyers, this means at least one of his emails to the Trump campaign should be considered privileged, too.
Attorneys for Chesebro and co-defendant Sidney Powell, another lawyer involved with the 2020 election contest, were the first to secure a legal victory against Willis on September 14, when McAfee agreed to sever a joint case against them from the greater indictment against Trump and the other defendants.
Chesebro and Powell asserted their right to a speedy trial, prompting McAfee to select October 23 as the trial date. The other defendants in the Trump election case did not assert their right and likely require more time to prepare. McAfee noted more cases may need to be severed in the future.
Willis’s office revealed it intends to call at least 150 witnesses over a four-month trial and claimed it will require the same amount of witness testimony and length of time for each severed case.
About a dozen witnesses Willis wants to testify were named by her team in a filing warning of potential conflicts of interest for defense counsel earlier this week. High-profile witnesses Willis wants to testify include Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), former Georgia Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, conservative media personality CJ Pearson, and retired defense attorney Lin Wood.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
