A defendant in the Trump classified documents case said he will give Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis until April 8 to recuse herself. Otherwise, he will pursue legal action amid allegations that she illegally recorded his lawyer’s phone call.
Last week, Chris Kachouroff, an attorney for defendant Harrison Floyd, alleged in an interview that Ms. Willis recorded a call between her and one of his Maryland-based colleagues without their knowledge or consent.
“She did reach out to us, one of my colleagues in Maryland, and was rude, abrupt with him on the phone, and he was dealing with the Maryland case and I was dealing with the Georgia case, and she ended up recording him,” Mr. Kachouroff said in the interview. He noted that, under Maryland law, “it’s a felony” to record someone without both parties’ consent.
Ms. Willis has not publicly responded to the allegations, while several local media outlets have stated that her office has not responded to a request for comment. The Epoch Times contacted the Fulton County District Attorney’s office for comment on April 5.
Neither Mr. Floyd nor Mr. Kachouroff provided more details about the phone call, including what it was about or when it occurred.
Maryland is one of 11 states that require two-party consent in order for a phone call or electronic communication to be recorded. Under Maryland’s Wiretap Act, recording a conversation without consent can be punishable by upward of five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
Georgia is a one-party consent state, meaning that a phone call can be recorded without the other party’s consent. Notably, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reportedly recorded a phone call he had with President Donald Trump after the 2020 election regarding voter fraud.
Mr. Floyd, along with more than a dozen others, was indicted by Fulton County on charges stemming from alleged efforts to illegally overturn the 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has maintained that voter fraud was conducted in the county during the election.
Specifically, he has been charged with conspiracy to solicit false statements, influencing witnesses, and racketeering. He was also accused of assaulting two FBI agents during an encounter near his home in Maryland, which he denies as well.
Mr. Floyd, a former “Black Voices for Trump” leader, turned himself in on a bond agreement on Aug. 24, 2023, before he was released on Aug. 30, 2023. At one point, he was the only Trump co-defendant to be kept in jail.
In Georgia, the charges against Mr. Floyd stem from allegations of harassment of Ruby Freeman, a Fulton County election worker who had been accused of election fraud. Prosecutors said Mr. Floyd took part in a Jan. 4, 2021, conversation in which Ms. Freeman was told that she “needed protection” and was pressured to make false statements about election fraud.
Other Controversy
Ms. Willis has faced allegations that had threatened to get her disqualified from the case, stemming from her relationship with a special counsel in the Trump case. Both Ms. Willis and the prosecutor, Nathan Wade, confirmed the relationship but denied that they engaged in a conflict of interest that allowed them to financially benefit from his employment in the district attorney’s office.The judge in the case, Scott McAfee, issued an order last month telling Ms. Willis that either she must step down or Mr. Wade must leave the case. Hours later, Mr. Wade resigned from the office but said in a letter that the defendants were not able to prove the allegations that they engaged in a conflict of interest.
Ms. Willis has shown no indication that she will recuse herself. During an interview with CNN after the judge’s order, she said the case is still moving forward against President Trump and the other defendants.
In a recent order, Judge McAfee rejected an argument submitted by President Trump’s lawyers that the First Amendment protects his political speech following the 2020 election. The 45th president, in court papers, argued that he is being illegally punished for attempting to petition Congress into not certifying then-candidate Joe Biden as the winner in Georgia’s election.
Attorneys for the former president signaled to media outlets that they are likely going to appeal the judge’s ruling in the near future. They also recently appealed Judge McAfee’s order that left Ms. Willis’s role as prosecutor in the case intact.
