The source of the leak of several witness proffer videos in Donald Trump’s sweeping RICO election interference case in Georgia has now been revealed.
Jonathan Miller, an attorney for one of Mr Trump’s co-defendants Misty Hampton, confessed in a court hearing on Wednesday that he was responsible the leak.
Mr Miller told Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee that he was coming clean so that he can “sleep well tonight” and to prevent anyone else shouldering the blame – after legal teams for Mr Trump and co-defendant Rudy Giuliani sought to pin the leak on District Attorney Fani Willis’ office.
“In being transparent with the court and to make sure that nobody else gets blamed for what happened and so that I can go to sleep well tonight, judge, I did release those videos to one outlet,” Mr Miller confessed.
“In all candor to the court, I need the court to know that.”
Despite his confession, Mr Miller stood by his actions, claiming he decided to leak the videos to the media because the “public has the right to know” the information.
“To hide those proffers, that show all the underlying things went into those pleas, it misleads the public about what’s going on,” he said.
He also argued that it was in his client’s interests to release the footage, saying that two of the statements were “directly related” to Ms Hampton.
Ms Hampton is charged with seven counts over her alleged involvement in the plot to breach the voting systems in Coffee County, Georgia.
The dramatic confession came after the judge called an emergency hearing on Wednesday and confirmed plans to implement a protective order in the high-profile case to prevent future leaks.
Judge McAfee is expected to introduce the order on Thursday morning.
It tops off a dramatic week in the case which began when parts of video statements of Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, Kenneth Chesebro and Scott Hall were published by ABC News and The Washington Post on Monday.
The four witnesses were among the 19 defendants charged with violating Georgia’s RICO statute back in August for their parts in running a criminal enterprise to keep Mr Trump in power against the will of the American people.
While they all initially pleaded not guilty at their arraignments, Powell, Ellis, Chesebro and Hall have since changed their pleas and pleaded guilty to the charges.
Under the terms of the plea deals with prosecutors, they each submitted to proffer videos detailing what they know about the alleged crime scheme.
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Footage from Ellis’ interview with investigators revealed her describing how Mr Trump would not leave the White House “under any circumstances” after losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
Ellis, who was a campaign adviser to Mr Trump, said that Mr Trump’s chief of staff and director of social media Dan Scavino made the concerning comments during a White House Christmas party on or around 19 December 2020.
“I emphasised to him [that] I thought the ability to challenge the election results was essentially over,” Ellis told prosecutors.
“He said to me, in a kind of excited tone: ‘Well, we don’t care and we’re not gonna leave.’”
Misty Hampton in mug shot after arrest in August
