x
Breaking News
More () »

2020 election investigation | Fulton County DA backs off removal of Trump electors' attorney

The motion came after the attorney accused the DA's office of threatening the electors.

ATLANTA — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Wednesday stopped her push to remove the attorney currently representing half of Georgia's "fake" electors for Donald Trump.

Two of the alternate electors previously represented by Kimberly Bourroughs Debrow who were not offered deals as part of the 2020 election investigation found new attorneys. The change ended prosecutor's concerns about Debrow, according to court documents.

The eight electors currently represented by Debrow accepted immunity offers from the district attorney's office in April. The electors were a group of 16 Republicans who cast Electoral College ballots falsely claiming that President Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

"As all of Ms. Debrow's remaining clients have accepted immunity offers from the state, her representation of multiple clients no longer creates the conflict that gave rise to the State's concern, thereby rendering the State's April 18, 2023, motion moot," a portion of the filing reads.

In a statement, Debrow told 11Alive that the DA's office "wrongfully accused" her of "unethical conduct while fully knowing that it was untrue."

"The non-immunized electors began hiring new counsel on my advice well before the DA filed her frivolous motion," Debrow added. "The better use of taxpayer dollars would have been to first confirm the facts."

Court documents don't indicate which of the eight electors accepted immunity offers. The filings also don't identify the two electors who weren't presented with deals.

One of Debrow's previous clients, former Coffee County GOP chair Cathy Latham, had a new attorney when she filed a motion last month seeking to bury the special purpose grand jury report and end the election investigation.

Wills filed a motion to remove Debrow last month after investigators interviewed the electors. Prosecutors alleged that Debrow failed to inform her clients about immunity offers in 2022. The electors in the group also alleged another elector broke state law, according to Willis' filing.

Debrow responded to those claims last week, calling Willis' efforts to remove her "reckless, frivolous, offensive, and completely without merit.” 

Debrow cited interview transcripts and other documentation in an effort to prove that the electors were informed about potential immunity offers. Actual immunity offers weren't presented to the electors until April 2023, according to her filing.

Debrow also alleged that Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor assisting the DA's office, asked electors misleading questions about 2022 immunity talks during last month's interviews. 

"Mr. Wade made outrageous threats and engaged in intimidation tactics in front of the elector being interviewed when Mr. Wade believed the recording had stopped, threatening to revoke their immunity and indict them ... all to try to silence defense counsel and prevent the truth from coming out," according to Debrow's motion from last week.

Willis previously told 11Alive that July 17 is the earliest a Fulton County grand jury could hear evidence related to the 2020 election investigation. Potential indictments of Trump and his allies would come before Sept. 1. 

Before You Leave, Check This Out