ATLANTA (CN) — Fulton County Prosecutors filed petitions Tuesday seeking testimony from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel in an upcoming trial of two people accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
In the petition, prosecutors said they wanted Jones, who was ordered to pay $965 million to Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims' relatives for promoting false conspiracy theories on his InfoWars web show, to testify in the case against attorney Kenneth Chesebro.
Chesebro faces seven felony charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment against former President Donald Trump and several others, and he is accused of coordinating the plan to impanel alternative slates of GOP Trump electors in Georgia and other swing states.
A staunch supporter of Trump and believer of his false claims of widespread election fraud, Jones spoke at the rally in Lafayette Square Park preceding the latter's supporters' attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
According to the filing, Chesebro was beside Jones on that day, as they marched with thousands of other Trump supporters to the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to disrupt Congress’ certification of the presidential electoral count.
“Alex Jones will provide evidence to the jury of Kenneth Chesebro’s involvement in the conspiracy, including, without limitation, as it relates to his participation in the march on the Capitol on January 6, 2021,” prosecutors wrote.
Norm Pattis, an attorney for Jones, told Politico that his client would resist testifying and that if he’s forced to will plead the Fifth, as he did when subpoenaed to testify before the Jan. 6 House Committee last year.
McDaniel would also serve as a witness against Chesebro, and prosecutors want her to testify about communications the defendant had with Trump about plans to assemble "contingent" electors in Georgia and other states.
Prosecutors said in the filing that McDaniel was on a Dec. 14, 2020, conference call with then-President Trump and attorney John Eastman, another defendant in the racketeering case, who urged her to get RNC support in identifying alternate electors.
A third petition filed Tuesday seeks testimony from Andrew Hitt, former chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, who would also testify to Chesebro’s involvement in the effort to assemble slates of GOP electors in states where the Trump campaign claimed they lost due to election fraud.
Chesebro allegedly spoke with Hitt during a meeting of the presidential elector nominees in Wisconsin on Dec. 14, 2020.
Because the sought witnesses live outside of Georgia, judges from their residential districts must grant the prosecutors' petition in order to compel testimony.
As jury selection for the severed trial against Chesebro and Powell is set to begin on Oct. 20, attorneys for Chesebro attempted to dismiss the charges against him in a hearing before Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee on Tuesday afternoon.
McAfee did not issue an order on the matter but appeared skeptical of Chesebro's argument that his case should be dismissed under the U.S. Constitution's Supremacy Clause, suggesting that it was an issue best addressed during trial.
Chesebro's attorneys also argued that their client's conduct should be considered protected speech under the First Amendment and that certain key evidence be excluded from the trial due to attorney-client privileges.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who launched the investigation, made similar filings last week petitioning the court for testimony from Trump's attorney Boris Epshteyn, former Atlanta libel attorney Lin Wood and several GOP officials in other contested swing states.
According to prosecutors, Epshteyn attended a press conference with Powell in Nov. 2020, during which she claimed that Dominion voting machines, which are used in Georgia, could flip votes from Trump to Biden. Prosecutors also want Epshteyn to speak about communications he had with Chesebro, Giuliani and Eastman regarding the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Powell also faces seven criminal charges in the case. She is accused of coordinating with SullivanStrickler, an Atlanta tech company, to copy confidential election data from Coffee County.
In the witness petition for Wood, prosecutors said he would “provide evidence to the jury of Sidney Powell’s involvement in the conspiracy, specifically as it relates to her time at his estate in South Carolina.”
According to the filing, Powell and Trump’s former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn stayed at Wood’s home in the small town of Yemassee, South Carolina., during which Powell is said to have planned to have Dominion voting machines seized in several states and examined for switching votes.
Prosecutors previously told Judge McAfee, who is overseeing the case, that they intend to call 150 witnesses throughout the trial.
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