Elie Honig debunks conspiracy theories about Trump indictment document posted online before the Georgia grand jury voted
“There would be nothing at all abnormal about sending an advance copy to the clerk saying, hey, this may be coming your way. It's pending the grand jury's actual vote. Don't post it, please, until we tell you the grand jury has voted.”
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From the August 14, 2023, edition of CNN's CNN Tonight
ANDERSON COOPER: When this – I don't know if it was a screw-up, snafu, whatever. This document was put online. How serious do you think it is?
ELIE HONIG: Yeah, it's obviously a screw-up. It's a substantial screw-up. I promise you, somebody at the clerk's office tonight feels absolutely horrible about it. I should say, though, some of these conspiracy theories that are starting to emerge, there's really nothing to them. Because as a prosecutor, if you have a big indictment, a long indictment, there would be nothing at all abnormal about sending an advance copy to the clerk saying, hey, this may be coming your way. It's pending the grand jury's actual vote. Don't post it, please, until we tell you the grand jury has voted. But you do – you would do that as a convenience to move things along. There's nothing illicit or irregular about that. But again, the fact that it was posted online is a true error by the clerk's office and a regrettable one, because as we can see, this is giving birth to really some farfetched conspiracy theories.