‘Public Had a Right To Know’: Trump Co-Defendant Lawyer Admits In Court He Leaked Confidential Witness Video

A lawyer for a defendant in the Georgia election interference case admitted Tuesday that he was the one responsible for leaking the proffer videos of Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, and Kenneth Cheseboro to the media, MSNBC reported.

Jonathan Miller, who represents Misty Hanson in the case, announced in open court during Wednesday’s virtual hearing that he leaked the videos to at least one media outlet. Hanson was one of the 18 co-defendants charged in the RICO case against former President Donald Trump. Powell, Cheseboro, Ellis, and Scott Hall have all pleaded guilty.

“I can go to sleep well tonight, judge. I did release those videos to one outlet, and in all candor, I need the court to know that,” Miller said on the video call.

ABC News was the first outlet to air the tapes.

NBC’s Blayne Alexander said, “The judge, of course, naturally asked why he decided to do that. And he said that he believed that two of the defendants, two of the people actually who pleaded guilty, had to do with his client, and actually helped his client, and he basically said that he believed that the public had a right to know.”

After the tapes were leaked, District Attorney Fani Willis asked Judge Scott McAfee for a protective order to prevent similar leaks that she claimed could promote witness intimidation and obstruction of justice.

Willis told the judge:

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 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.

“Just the fact that a lawyer possibly leaked this is highly unprecedented,” Alexander said, adding, “I do think all of it underscores the DA’s argument that there needs to be a protective order so that nothing like this happens in the future.”

McAfee has not yet ruled on Willis’ request for a protective order.