Judge in Georgia Trump Case to Issue Protective Order for Evidence

The judge overseeing the case involving former President Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to subvert Georgia’s 2020 election results said Wednesday he will draft an order protecting some evidence from pre-trial disclosure.

“Until we decide what’s going to be relevant and admissible, this case should be tried, and not in the court of public opinion,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said at a hearing on the proposed order, CNBC reported.

The order was sought by prosecutors and agreed to by most of the defense teams after a leak this week to media outlets of videos containing confidential interviews that four co-defendants, among them former Trump attorneys Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, gave prosecutors as part of their agreements to plead guilty.

The prosecutors and most defense attorneys tentatively agreed to an order that would allow some evidence shared during pre-trial discovery to be labeled “sensitive” and initially withheld from public scrutiny, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

During the hearing, attorney Jonathan Miller, who is representing co-defendant Misty Hampton, told McAfee he gave the videos to “one media outlet,” but did not say which one. Miller said the public had the right to know what the four co-defendants told the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, the Journal-Constitution reported, arguing the statements they made “help my client.”

McAfee’s decision came over the objection of several news organizations, including the Journal-Constitution, that argued the evidence in the case is of tremendous public interest and should not be withheld.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the case and said his prosecution is politically motivated.