Government

Georgia Prosecutors Ask Court To Probe Trumpland Lawyers' Many, Many Conflicts

You get a conflict! And you get a conflict!

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Conflict of interest policy and pen on a wooden surface.The MAGA cinematic universe’s habit of sharing the same five lawyers for the entire crew has once again come back to bite it in the rear. This morning Fulton County District Attorney (FCDA) Fani Willis gave Judge Scott McAffee a heads up that six defense lawyers in the sprawling election interference RICO prosecution have previously represented witnesses in the case.

“The State of Georgia is compelled to notify the Court of potential conflicts of interest concerning attorneys Christopher Scott Anulewicz, Amanda Rourk Clark Palmer, Scott Robert Grubman, Harry W. MacDougald, Bruce H. Morris, and Donald Franklin Samuel, who each previously represented Defendants or witnesses for the State of Georgia in this matter,” prosecutors wrote, noting the state’s obligation to notify the court of possible conflicts under the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct.

The FCDA interviewed 75 witnesses during the special purpose grand jury (SPGJ) investigation which led to the indictment, including former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan and other members of the Georgia General Assembly, who were represented by Clark Palmer and Samuel, current counsel for defendant Ray Stallings Smith III. Clark Palmer also represented the IT firm Sullivan Strickler, which is alleged to have carried out the breach of voting machines in Coffee County at the behest of defendants Cathy Latham and Sidney Powell.

Defendant Ken Chesebro, the Larry Tribe acolyte accused of being the architect of the fake electors scheme, is represented by Scott Grubman, who previously represented Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his wife Patricia before the SPGJ. Raffensperger will be a state witness in this case, and in fact already testified at Mark Meadows’s federal removal hearing.

The fruitless lawsuits seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election are also rife with potential conflicts. For instance, former Justice Department lawyer Jeff Clark, who failed to get the DOJ to send a letter to Georgia legislators falsely claiming to have discovered evidence of fraud, is now represented by civil litigator Harry McDougald. But McDougald was co-counsel along with co-defendant Sidney Powell in an election suit in which co-defendant Cathy Latham was a plaintiff. Multiple other plaintiffs in that suit will be witnesses for the state. In another election challenge, McDougald served as co-counsel with Lin Wood, the former defamation lawyer who voluntarily surrendered his license amid disbarment proceedings earlier this year.

“Absent inquiry by the Court, there is a significant risk that the Rules of Professional Conduct may be violated, which may compromise the rights of certain witnesses for the State of Georgia should those witnesses be cross-examined by their former attorneys,” DA Willis argued.

The motion echoes similar moves by Special Counsel Jack Smith in the Florida documents case. There, attorneys for co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira are each represented by counsel who previously represented multiple witnesses before the grand jury. In early August, the DOJ requested conflicts hearings with respect to attorneys Stanley Woodward Jr. and John Irving, both of whom were paid by Trump’s Save America PAC to serve as attorneys for various Trumpland figures.

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So far Judge Aileen Cannon seems wholly unconcerned that defendants in her courtroom may be represented by conflicted counsel. But with Chesebro and Powell’s trial set to begin August 23, Judge McAfee will likely act with more alacrity, not to say integrity.

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics and appears on the Opening Arguments podcast.

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