亚特兰大——负责审理前总统唐纳德·特朗普及其14名盟友涉嫌非法合谋推翻其2020年在乔治亚州选举失利的刑事敲诈勒索案的法官发布了一项保护令，禁止公开发布此事中的“敏感”证据。
在周四上午发布的一项命令中，富尔顿县高等法院法官斯科特·迈克菲(Scott McAfee)表示，最近公布了特朗普的四名共同被告向检察官提供的记录陈述，这些被告在案件中接受了认罪协议，因此有理由实施保护令。他说，除了可能使潜在证人面临威胁或其他危险之外，向公众公布这类审前材料，包括最终可能被视为不可采信的证据，可能会损害潜在陪审员的声誉。
McAfee写道:“法院有兴趣确保各方在一个公正的陪审团面前保留公平审判的权利，如果公众在审判前几个月被允许审查每一条未经过滤的证据，这一过程可能无法实现。”
法官写道，该命令的另一个原因是为了尽量减少未来公开发布材料可能对当事人分享发现材料的意愿产生寒蝉效应的威胁。
他说:“只有全面、畅通无阻地发现真相，这样一个如此繁琐的案件才能继续按期进行，并为审判做好准备，而不会出现过度拖延。”
该命令将“敏感材料”定义为“在国家向被告及其律师提供的证据中，国家真诚地认为有权得到保密处理的任何证据”。
这一决定是在《华盛顿邮报》公布了四名共同被告的录音陈述细节之后做出的。检察官和支持特朗普的律师肯尼斯·切斯布罗、詹娜·埃利斯和西德尼·鲍威尔以及亚特兰大保释保证人斯科特·霍尔之间的谈话录音提供了此前未披露的细节，说明了特朗普及其盟友为扭转败局所做的努力。
在视频泄露之后，富尔顿县地方检察官Fani T. Willis (D)的办公室提交了一份紧急请求，寻求保护令——辩称释放视频“显然是为了恐吓本案中的证人，在审判前对他们进行骚扰和威胁”。
检方最初在9月份申请了一项保护令，禁止公开披露证据材料。但这一命令仍在检察官和该案的辩护律师之间进行协商。对于这起规模庞大的诈骗案，哪些应该公开，哪些不应该公开，辩护律师们提出了不同的观点。
录音被公开后，威利斯的办公室表示，他们将不再向参与此案的任何辩护律师分享“提供方的机密录像”，而是只允许律师在富尔顿县法院的办公室里亲自查看这些材料。
检察官后来放弃了这个想法，在星期三举行的紧急听证会上宣布，他们同意一项由前乔治亚州共和党主席大卫·谢弗的律师提出的、由其他几名被告共同签署的命令，该命令将禁止公布被标记为“敏感”的证据。
特朗普的三名共同被告——前司法部官员杰弗里·克拉克、特朗普活动人士哈里森·弗洛伊德和佐治亚州咖啡县前选举主任米斯蒂·汉普顿的律师。-表示他们的客户反对对分享发现材料进行任何限制。
"The information is largely already publicly available and has been released," said Catherine Bernard, an attorney for Clark. "We do not believe a protective order is necessary."
Jonathan Miller, an attorney for Hampton, admitted that he had provided recordings to the media. But he said Hampton opposed a protective order, citing her desire for the proceedings to be "100 percent transparent." "This is . . . one of the biggest cases the country has had. And that transparency is very important," Miller said.
McAfee hinted Wednesday that there would be a protective order of some kind - though he also argued he was sensitive to concerns raised by an attorney representing The Post and other media organizations covering the case.
"Until we decide what's going to be relevant and admissible, this case should be tried, and not in the court of public opinion as much as possible, but before a jury . . . and with evidence that has been vetted and approved, " McAfee said during the Wednesday hearing.
The sweeping Fulton indictment, unsealed in August, accused Trump and 18 co-defendants - including Rudy Giuliani, his former personal attorney; Mark Meadows, his former chief of staff; former Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Clark; and former Georgia GOP chairman David Shafer - of a wide-ranging conspiracy to steal the 2020 election.
The charges fall into several buckets of alleged criminal behavior: the meeting of the Trump slate of presidential electors in Atlanta; Trump's pressure campaign seeking help from multiple Georgia state officials in reversing his defeat; a breach of election equipment in rural Coffee County, Ga., in a hunt for evidence of fraud; and harassment of two local election workers in Fulton County who were falsely accused of counting fraudulent ballots on election night. The case is separate from the federal election interference investigation by special counsel Jack Smith, in which only Trump has been charged so far.
The audible portions of the Fulton recordings reviewed by The Post do not appear to directly implicate Trump. But there was an indirect implication in Ellis's proffer statement - that a top presidential aide had said to her in December 2020 that "the boss" did not plan to leave the White House "under any circumstances."
At one point in Powell's interview, she said Trump really believed he had won - a statement that could help his defense. But Powell also said 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 him as part of the "brain trust" planning the Coffee County scheme.
Willis has declined to say what evidence her office has gained from the recorded "proffers" given by Chesebro, Ellis, Hall and Powell. But in an interview with The Post Tuesday, Willis said such statements are helpful for prosecutors seeking to make a stronger case against defendants "up the ladder" in racketeering cases.
