In a surprising turn of events, President Donald Trump is calling on Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis as his legal team prepares his defense in the state’s “election subversion” trial.
Trump’s lawyers are requesting that Willis, Fulton County’s district attorney, provide evidence to Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Steve Sadow, Trump’s top lawyer in Georgia, wants to access lists of discovery evidence in Trump’s overlapping 2020 election case in Washington D.C.
Sadow asked Willis to contact prosecutor Jack Smith for that material.
The move comes after Trump’s lawyers in D.C. said they could not share it, citing a protective order from leftist Judge Tanya Chutkan.
Trump is asking for discovery letters that might signal whether the evidence gathered by Smith’s team will help Trump’s defense in Georgia.
“President Trump is seeking fair and reasonable means to protect his right to due process of law under the U.S. and Georgia Constitutions,” Sadow said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Monday.
“We are confident that securing access to relevant discovery contained in the files of the Special Counsel’s Office in D.C. will further support President Trump’s defense and make clear his innocence in the Fulton County case.”
Trump is facing four criminal cases in all, beginning with the D.C. election case on March 3.
Smith has pushed furiously for a trial to happen as soon as possible.
He is accusing Trump of seeking to delay.
Democrat Willis has asked for the Georgia case to begin in August next year, in the run-up to the presidential election.
The timing raises the possibility it won’t be finished when the 2024 election happens.
In addition to the overlapping election cases, Trump faces a March trial for “hush money” in New York.
The 2024 election frontrunner also has another trial in May for classified documents, although that one might be delayed.
Trump, who has been overtaking Biden in the polls, says the cases are all politically motivated.
Willis charged Trump and 18 other defendants under the state’s racketeering laws.
She is accusing them of a “criminal enterprise” to undermine the 2020 election.
Smith, despite failing to charge Trump with insurrection, has accused him of a broad “conspiracy” to undermine “democracy.”
January 6 was the “culmination” of that conspiracy, Smith says.
Trump’s lawyers have said Smith’s language is “prejudicial” because the indictment does not actually hold Trump responsible for January 6.
However, Chutkan rejected Trump’s request to have Smith’s controversial language removed from the case.
Chutkan also approved a broad gag order protecting Smith from criticism, which is now being weighed by an appeals court.
