Georgia DA moves to shield prospective jurors in Trump case

Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis moved to shield prospective jurors’ identities Wednesday.

In a late-afternoon filing, Willis asked the court to “[p]revent any [d]efendant, members of the press, or any other person from videotaping, photographing, drawing, or otherwise creating or publishing images of the jurors or prospective jurors inside or outside the courtroom.” 

Willis also asked the court to block defendants, the press or anyone else from “publishing any verbal or written descriptions of any information that would assist persons in determining the identity of any jurors or prospective jurors, specifically physical descriptions, telephone numbers, addresses, employer names, and membership affiliations of all jurors or prospective jurors.”

The motion also featured attached affidavits by the chief of Atlanta Police and the assistant chief investigator of the technology unit for the Fulton County DA’s office, describing doxxing and harassment faced by Willis and the grand jury that indicted former President Trump and 18 co-defendants in a case related to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Concerns about Trump revealing details about a case he’s involved in are not new. In the indictment Trump faces in federal court in Washington, D.C., federal prosecutors asked for a protective order to prevent the former president from publicly sharing evidence during the discovery phase of the case last month.