by Stanley Dunlap, Georgia Recorder [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

December 18, 2023

An email exchange indicates that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis wants Donald Trump and his top aides to serve prison terms in the 2020 presidential election interference case.

The details about Willis warning the possibility of prison sentences for the former Republican president, Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani in the landmark racketeering case were revealed in a Dec. 7 Guardian article describing a testy email exchange between Willis and Trump’s attorney Steve Sadow.

The Guardian cites a string of emails starting on Nov. 29 in which Willis took offense to Sadow referring to her as a prosecutor rather than an elected district attorney. 

Sources with direct knowledge of the emails told the news outlet that the tension-filled exchange began with Sadow complaining that he was sent an incomplete transcript by the district attorney’s office. The exchange continued with Willis stating that both their legal careers would continue after the defendants in the sweeping election case had spent time in prison. 

Willis defended her reputation against the accusation that her office was purposefully withholding evidence from defense lawyers while telling Sadow that “long after these folks are in jail, we will still be practicing law.” 

So far, Fulton prosecutors have negotiated plea deals with four co-defendants that allow them to spend their sentences on probation if they cooperate as state witnesses. Trump and the remaining other co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering, alleging they were involved in a multi-state conspiracy to overthrow the 2020 presidential election results.

A number of legal and political experts predict that the Fulton prosecutors will continue to negotiate plea agreements with many of the remaining co-defendants, and that their testimony will be used to strengthen the cases against Trump and his close allies, including Meadows and Giuliani.

Willis is pushing for the trial for Trump and co-defendants to start in August, which would likely run through the November 2024 presidential election. 

Trump is the frontrunner to be the GOP nominee in a rematch against Democratic President Joe Biden.

In a recent court hearing, Fulton’s lead prosecutor and Trump’s seasoned Georgia criminal defense attorney publicly clashed when Sadow claimed that having Trump on trial close to Election Day would be the worst example of election interference in American history.

The Guardian’s report about emails in the Fulton election interference case tops the latest Georgia Recorder roundup of recent developments in the case.

Jury awards $148 million in Giuliani defamation case 

On Friday, a federal jury in Washington D.C. awarded $148 million in damages to two former Georgia election workers who were the targets of Giuliani’s baseless claims that they counted fraudulent absentee ballots in the 2020 presidential election.

The eight jurors awarded the hefty damages following a four-day civil trial against Giuliani, who was found guilty earlier this year of defaming former Fulton County election workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss. 

The $148 million awarded to Freeman and Moss includes $75 million in punitive damages and another $73 million in compensatory damages for defamation and emotional distress. Freeman and Moss became main targets of Trump and a large number of his supporters advancing conspiracy theories that rampant voting fraud cost Trump the election in Georgia as well as several other swing states

During the trial last week, Freeman became emotional while testifying about the threats to her life she faced while Giuliani, as Trump’s personal and campaign lawyer, publicly claimed she helped rig the 2020 presidential election in Biden’s favor while processing absentee ballots at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena following the November election.

Even after conceding to making defamatory statements against Freeman and Moss, Giuliani remained defiant while speaking to news reporters gathered outside the federal courthouse on Dec. 11 following jury selection.

Freeman and Moss are expected to be prominent state witnesses in the Fulton election interference case against Guiliani, Trump, and the former president’s allies. Fulton election interference defendants Harrison Floyd,  Trevian Kutti and Stephen Lee are accused of harassing Freeman while attempting to force her to confess to something security video shows didn’t happen.

Short, succinct apology letters 

One sentence long apology letters were written by two co-defendants who reached plea agreements in the Fulton election interference case.

The short apology letters written in October by attorneys and co-defendants, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, succinctly stated that they apologized for the actions that led to them being charged in the racketeering case. The details of the handwritten letters were reported on Friday by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which obtained the letters through an open records request.

Fulton prosecutors’ plea deals with four co-defendants allows them to avoid any jail time if they cooperate as state witnesses and also write a letter apologizing to Georgia residents.

Powell wrote on Oct. 19 that she regretted being involved in the Coffee County voting system breach following the 2020 election. In a one-sentence letter, Chesebro apologized for his role in orchestrating a slate of alternate Republican electors to submit false ballots in support of Trump.

The apology letters of two other co-defendants, Atlanta bail bondsman Scott Hall and former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis, were longer.

Hall wrote that he did not intentionally break any laws and wished he had not been involved in the Coffee breach that led to his charges.

At a court hearing last month, Ellis became emotional as she read her letter aloud. She  expressed regret for participating in a Georgia Senate subcommittee hearing during which several Trump attorneys urged state lawmakers to overturn the election results.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com. Follow Georgia Recorder on Facebook and Twitter.