Trump allies Boris Epshteyn, Lin Wood among witnesses sought in Georgia racketeering trial

Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s Georgia election racketeering case asked a judge for approval to call out-of-state witnesses to testify about the strategies of two co-defendants involving disrupting Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, recruiting fake presidential electors and forensically scrutinizing voting equipment.

The potential witnesses – including lawyers Boris Epshteyn and Lin Wood – were mentioned in the House investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. But the trial would be the first chance to hear publicly about their behind-the-scenes activities.

Prosecutors led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis want to call the witnesses in the trial of campaign lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, which is scheduled to begin Oct. 23.

Chesebro and Powell are the first of 19 co-defendants heading to trial on charges of racketeering and trying to overturn the 2020 election. All the defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Here is what we know about the potential testimony:

Epshteyn could testify about “Chesebro’s communication with co-defendants John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani regarding the attempt to disrupt and delay the Jan. 6, 2021, joint session of Congress,” prosecutors said.

• On Nov. 19, 2020, Epshteyn attended a press conference at the Republican National Committee where Powell baselessly claimed problems with Dominion voting machines, according to prosecutors.

• On Dec. 13, 2020, Epshteyn requested on behalf of Giuliani an email from Chesebro and Eastman about “methods to disrupt and delay” the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, according to prosecutors.

• On Jan. 1, 2021, Epshteyn received an email from Chesebro titled “Filibuster talking points” for the Jan. 6 session, according to prosecutors.

Other out-of-state witnesses prosecutors hope to call include Republican presidential electors who supported Trump in states that President Joe Biden won. Chesebro drafted memos outlining the strategy to recruit fake electors, according to the House investigation and prosecutors.

Fake electors the prosecutors asked to call are Jim Graffenreid of Nevada and Greg Safsten of Arizona. Both men could testify about their interactions with Chesebro, according to prosecutors.

Wood could testify about Powell staying at his South Carolina estate in November 2020, where Powell drafted a memo recommended Dominion voting machines be studied forensically, according to prosecutors.

“He will provide evidence of communications between himself and Powell as it relates to her plans and operations surrounding the post-election efforts,” prosecutors said.

• On Dec. 14, 2020, an organization called Allied Security Operations Group released a report claiming software on Dominion voting machines in Michigan had been “intentionally and purposefully designed with inherent errors to create systemic fraud and influence election results,” according to prosecutors. Trump sent a copy of the report to his acting attorney general and tweeted it showed “massive fraud.”

• On Dec. 18, 2020, Powell, Giuliani and other co-conspirators met with Trump at the White House to discuss seizing voting machines, according to prosecutors. Trump didn’t approve the proposal.

• On Jan. 7, 2021, the same employees from a forensic team that studied voting equipment in Antrim County, Michigan, traveled to Coffee County, Georgia, to copy data from machines there, according to prosecutors. One of the employees updated Powell by email multiple times that day, according to prosecutors.

State election officials in Georgia and Michigan have said there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Dominion won a $787 million settlement from Fox News over misstatements about the company’s voting equipment.

Powell’s lawyer, Brian Rafferty, has argued Powell didn’t sign the contract for the forensics team and that the staffers were invited to Coffee County to study the voting equipment.

Another witness prosecutors asked to call, to testify about Powell’s stay at Wood’s estate, is Aaron Vick of Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Prosecutors offered the assurance to all the witnesses that they would be protected from arrest when traveling to the state to testify.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia DA asks to call Trump allies Boris Epshteyn, Lin Wood at trial