Reporter confronts Fulton County DA about mysterious leak as Trump's lawyers turn up the heat: 'Shocking and absurd'

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis refused to say late Monday how a draft of the indictment against former President Donald Trump and 18 others leaked.

What is the background?

Hours before a grand jury officially voted to indict, Reuters found a document uploaded to the Fulton County Court website detailing an "open" case against Trump, including the same charges he was later indicted on. The document even had a case number and included a judge's name.

The document was later deleted, and the Fulton County Court described it as "fictitious," casting doubt on its authenticity.

What did Willis say?

At a press conference after the grand jury handed down the indictment, Willis was asked about the leak. But she was clearly not interested in providing transparency. In fact, she pretended like it didn't happen.

"I can't tell you anything about what you refer to," Willis said.

"What I can tell you is that we had a grand jury here in Fulton County. They deliberated until almost 8:00 [p.m] if not right after 8:00 [p.m]. An indictment was returned, and we now have an indictment. I am not an expert on clerks' duties or even administrative duties. And so I'm not going to speculate," the DA added. "Next question!"

The problem for Willis is that Trump's attorneys will use the incident as ammunition that their client was not afforded a fair process.

"The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office has once again shown that they have no respect for the integrity of the grand jury process," attorneys Drew Findling and Jennifer Little said in a statement Monday afternoon.

"This was not a simple administrative mistake," the statement continued. "A proposed indictment should only be in the hands of the District Attorney's Office, yet it somehow made its way to the clerk's office and was assigned a case number and a judge before the grand jury even deliberated. This is emblematic of the pervasive and glaring constitutional violations which have plagued this case from its very inception."

After the indictment was released, Trump's lawyers called the events "shocking and absurd" and described the leak as a "major fumble" and evidence that Willis "decided to force through and rush" the indictment.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!