Atlanta Prosecutor in Trump Election Probe Seeks to Disqualify Lawyer

During those interviews, conducted on April 12 and April 14, some of the individuals stated that a person involved in the elector plot “committed acts that are in violation of Georgia law and that they weren’t parties to these additional acts,” according to the District Attorney’s Office. The filing didn’t name the person accused of wrongdoing or specify the conduct at issue.

The motion offered a glimpse into the continuing criminal investigation by Ms. Willis, a Democrat, who has been investigating Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn his election defeat in Georgia. Ms. Willis said at a January court hearing that charging decisions were imminent. Mr. Trump has asked a court to scrap the probe.

As part of her probe, she has investigated the group of activists, who met after the election in the Georgia capitol and voted to certify Mr. Trump as the winner in the state, despite the vote count.

Participants in the elector strategy have said it was a lawful move, intended to preserve Mr. Trump’s ability to win through legitimate court challenges. Critics say it was a scheme to subvert a legitimate election.

Tuesday’s motion seeks to disqualify a defense lawyer, Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow, from simultaneously representing 10 of the people involved in the elector strategy, sometimes referred to as “fake electors,” often by Democrats, or as their lawyers have called them, “alternate electors.”

“Multiple of Ms. Debrow’s clients have made adverse claims against another of Ms. Debrow’s clients in the same proceeding,” the motion stated. “It is unfathomable how Ms. Debrow can offer competent and adequate counsel to her client who has been accused of further crimes.”

The motion alleges that Ms. Debrow didn’t properly inform her clients about potential immunity deals offered by the district attorney last year.

Ms. Debrow didn’t respond immediately to queries seeking comment. A spokesman for Ms. Willis declined to comment on the motion.

Holly Pierson, a Georgia lawyer who has advised Georgia GOP officials, said Ms. Willis falsely characterized discussions about immunity.

“Sadly, the DA’s office continues to seem more interested in media attention, trampling on the constitutional rights of innocent citizens, and recklessly defaming its perceived opponents than in the facts, the law, or the truth,” Ms. Pierson said.

The 10 clients of Ms. Debrow have signed a document, known as a “waiver,” asserting that they want her as their lawyer despite the asserted conflict of interest.

Ms. Willis said in her motion that “the events of the past week show that such a waiver cannot and will not work in this case.” The only appropriate remedy is to block Ms. Debrow from further participation in the matter, Ms. Willis said.

Ms. Willis’s motion will be heard by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who has overseen grand-jury matters relating to the investigation.

Judge McBurney previously ruled on ethical issues raised by alternate electors sharing defense lawyers. Last year, he said it would be a conflict of interest for David Shafer, the former chairman of Georgia’s Republican Party involved in the elector strategy, to be represented by the same lawyer as other GOP activists who served as alternate electors.

Based on that ruling, Mr. Shafer agreed to be represented by Ms. Pierson, while the other 10 individuals agreed to be represented by Ms. Debrow, according to the District Attorney’s motion.

The effort to disqualify Ms. Debrow is the latest curve in a two-year-old investigation by Ms. Willis.

In May 2022, a special grand jury was assembled at Ms. Willis’s request. It issued a report in January detailing a yearlong investigation into possible election interference in the state’s 2020 presidential election.

That grand jury called 75 witnesses to testify, including prominent Republicans including Rudy Giuliani and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. The special grand jury didn’t have authority to issue indictments, but in portions of its report that was released to the public, the jury stated that witnesses might have committed perjury. Ms. Willis, who has the complete report, now can seek indictments through regular criminal grand juries. 

Mr. Trump wasn’t called to testify in the probe, but legal experts have said he is a potential target of the inquiry. Mr. Trump has insisted repeatedly that he did nothing wrong after the election.

In November 2020, Mr. Trump lost the election in Georgia by roughly 12,000 votes out of five million cast, becoming the first Republican presidential candidate to lose there since 1992. Mr. Trump and his supporters claimed fraud, but statewide recounts and a partial forensic audit overseen by the Georgia secretary of state found no evidence of widespread fraud and court challenges failed.

Mr. Trump’s efforts to reverse the outcome included direct calls to Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who oversees elections, and the chief investigator for his office. Recordings of those conversations initially prompted Ms. Willis’s investigation and were part of the evidence presented to the special grand jury.

Write to Jan Wolfe at [email protected] and Cameron McWhirter at [email protected]