TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Several current and former employees in the administration of Gov. Rick Scott are being ordered to testify in a criminal case involving a former aide to Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll.

Judge Frank Sheffield initially ruled Friday that Carroll must testify, but then at the urging of Scott’s top lawyer changed his mind.

Sheffield says that other Scott administration officials must be questioned first. Lawyers could then argue why they need to talk to Carroll.

Carleta Cole was arrested in 2011 and accused of giving a reporter a secret recording of herself and Carroll’s chief of staff.

Sheffield told Cole’s legal team that they cannot ask questions about allegations Cole made that Carroll was involved in a relationship with one of her aides. Carroll has called the allegations false and absurd.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.