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☆ Text messages shed new light on scope of fake electors plot after 2020 election
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Marshall Cohen | Zachary Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

This undercuts his recent testimony to state prosecutors in which he said the fake electors were contingent on winning the litigation. Chesebro told Troupis in late 2020 that it was “really not necessary” to link the GOP electors to ongoing litigation. “I have sent it to the White House this afternoon. The real decision makers,” Troupis responded, though he didn’t identify who at the White House received the memo. In the December 6, 2020, memo, Chesebro laid out the plan to put forth slates of Republican electors in seven key swing states that Trump lost, including Wisconsin.

Persons: Kenneth Chesebro, Donald Trump, Jim Troupis, Wisconsin’s, Chesebro, Trump, Troupis, ” Chesebro, Weeks, Alex Jones, Jones, “, ” Memo, Jim, Justin Clark, ” Troupis, Reince Priebus, Wisconsinites, The Trump, CNN’s Katelyn Polantz Organizations: CNN, Trump, Michigan, “, Capitol, White, White House Locations: Wisconsin, Georgia

Chesebro’s social media presence Pro-Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro told Michigan investigators that he doesn’t have any social media accounts, including Twitter. But CNN uncovered a secret Twitter account that Chesebro used to anonymously post about the 2020 election in real-time. Yet in his interview with Michigan investigators, Chesebro said the very opposite, claiming that the entire electors plan was contingent on the courts. Michigan investigators secured Chesebro’s cooperation in December, after previously charging the 16 fake electors in that state with multiple felonies. Chesebro distances himself from the plotIn his interview with Michigan investigators, Chesebro repeatedly tried to downplay his knowledge of the electors plan.

Persons: Kenneth Chesebro, Chesebro, ”, Robert Langford, Danny Wimmer, Dana Nessel, “, ” Chesebro, Trump, BadgerPundit, Mike Pence, Joe Biden, Pence, hadn’t, Jack, “ Chesebro, Ryan Goodman, ” Goodman, Manny Arora, Arora, Wimmer, John Eastman, Alex Jones, I’d, Gore, Laurence, “ it’s, Eastman, Boris Epshteyn, Donald Trump, won’t, Biden, ” BadgerPundit, Jefferson, ” CNN’s Selwyn Rocha Organizations: CNN, Trump, Twitter, Michigan, CNN CNN, BadgerPundit, Chesebro, Republican, Pro, CNN CNN Twitter, Wayback Machine, New York University, Michigan Attorney, Bush, Trump International Hotel, Atlantic, ”, Biden, Eastman, Pence, Capitol Locations: Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, “, Chesebro, Gore, cryptocurrency, Washington ,, Bush, Trump’s, Washington

The pleas are a stark display of the reality that the Georgia case against Trump and his co-defendants is getting stronger. For two prominent Trump co-defendants – Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro – the looming five-month trial, potentially resulting in a yearslong prison sentence, appears to have spurred them into flipping. Chesebro directly implicated Trump in a criminal conspiracy, and his plea establishes for the first time that the fake electors plot was illegal. Trump is the only person charged thus far in the federal case, but both Chesebro and Powell are unindicted co-conspirators. Sadow brushed off the threat of possible testimony from Chesebro and Powell at Trump’s eventual trial on the Georgia election subversion charges.

Persons: Donald Trump, Jack Smith, Trump, – Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro –, Trump Chesebro, Chesebro, Powell, Powell’s, Steve Sadow, Trump’s, Chesebro’s, ”, “, Fani Willis, Michael Cohen, Cohen, Sadow, ” Sadow Organizations: CNN, Trump, Justice, White, Prosecutors, Justice Department Locations: Fulton County , Georgia, Georgia, “, Coffee County , Georgia, Fulton, New York, Chesebro

☆ From Bush v. Gore to ‘Stop the Steal’: Kenneth Chesebro’s Long, Strange Trip
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Elizabeth Williamson | More About Elizabeth Williamson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In January 2001, Kenneth Chesebro was a mild-mannered Harvard lawyer toiling for Al Gore during the 2000 presidential election recount battle. Two decades later, on Jan. 6, 2021, he joined the mob outside the Capitol, reborn as a MAGA-hatted kingpin. On Friday, Mr. Chesebro’s journey took another turn, when he pleaded guilty in a criminal racketeering indictment in Fulton County, Ga., and agreed to testify against former President Donald J. Trump and other co-defendants, including Rudolph W. Giuliani and several other top Trump aides. Mr. Chesebro’s trial, which had been scheduled to begin Monday, will no longer go forward. Liberal lawyers from his former life had hoped it would provide clues to an enduring mystery: What happened to “The Cheese?’’

Persons: Kenneth Chesebro, toiling, Al Gore, MAGA, Donald J, Trump, Rudolph W, Giuliani, Chesebro, Trump’s, Joseph R, Biden, Chesebro’s Organizations: Harvard, Capitol, Trump, Liberal Locations: Fulton County ,, Georgia

☆ Two Trump co-defendants plead guilty. What next?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Sidney Powell , a public face of Trump’s attempts to challenge the election results in 2020 and 2021, pleaded guilty Thursday. The former Trump attorney willavoid jail time but agreed to testify as a witness and pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors for conspiracy to commitintentional interference, downgraded from felony charges she had faced. He pleaded guilty Friday to a single felony, conspiracy to commit filingfalse documents. Trial dates have not been set, and Trump has pleaded not guilty. But guilty pleas, Williams said, are now evidence that crimes were committed as Trump tried to make Joe Biden’s 2020 victory disappear.

Persons: – unsolvably, Donald Trump’s, Georgia’s, Sidney Powell, He’s, Kenneth Chesebro, Scott Hall, Trump, Powell’s Chesebro, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Elliot Williams, Fani Willis, Williams, Joe Biden’s, ” Williams, Jim Sciutto, CNN Max, “ Chesebro, ‘, Chesebro, Powell, CNN’s Marshall Cohen, Cohen, Jack Smith, Tanya Chutkan, “, Chutkan, Arthur Engoron, Engoron, ” Trump, Chris Christie, ” Christie, “ Donald Trump doesn’t, Christie, Oliver Darcy, CNN’s, “ It’s, ” Darcy Organizations: CNN, Trump, White, Republican, Former New Jersey Gov, NBC, Salem Radio Network, GOP, Trump Republicans Locations: Israel, Georgia, Coffee, New York, Washington, Florida, Fulton County, Washington ,, Clive , Iowa, Miami, Salem

☆ Kenneth Chesebro: Pro-Trump lawyer pleads guilty in Georgia election subversion case, implicates Trump in fake elector conspiracy
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Marshall Cohen Nick Valencia Maxime Tamsett Fabiana Chaparro | Marshall Cohen | Nick Valencia | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

It comes one day after former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell also pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Fulton County prosecutors recommended that he serve 5 years of probation and pay $5,000 in restitution, and Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee imposed that sentence at Friday’s hearing. Three defendants have now pleaded guilty in the sprawling racketeering case: Chesebro, Powell and Georgia-based bail bondsman Scott Hall. Powell and Hall both admitted their roles in the January 2021 breach of election systems in rural Coffee County, Georgia. At a hearing earlier this week, Fulton County prosecutors and attorneys for Chesebro haggled over how many politically charged questions should be included.

Persons: Kenneth Chesebro, Donald Trump, Fani Willis, Trump, Sidney Powell, Chesebro, Scott McAfee, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Powell, Mike Pence, Joe Biden’s, “, Daysha Young, bondsman Scott Hall, Hall, McAfee, misapplied, Jack Smith, Steve Sadow, ” Sadow, Jan, impartially, MAGA, Donald Trump’s, ”, “ MAGA, “ MAGA Republicans ”, Chesebro’s Organizations: Atlanta CNN, Trump, Fulton, Giuliani, Eastman, Prosecutors, Hall, Justice, CNN, “ MAGA Republicans Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, Fulton, Powell, Coffee County , Georgia, Washington , DC

The electors scheme became a vital part of the end game strategy pursued by Mr. Trump as he and his allies sought to find a way to block or delay congressional certification of his Electoral College defeat. When Mr. Trump directed his supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Mr. Chesebro was among them, accompanying the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to the Capitol grounds. (Mr. Chesebro does not appear to have illegally entered the Capitol as the march turned into a riot.) If Mr. Chesebro were to testify that Mr. Trump’s lawsuits challenging his loss were not designed to win, but merely as ploys to sow doubt about the election, it could cut against Mr. Trump’s possible plan to use a so-called advice of counsel defense. Beyond his role in the state case in Georgia, Mr. Chesebro was also identified — albeit not by name — as Co-Conspirator 5 in the federal election case filed against Mr. Trump in August by the special counsel, Jack Smith.

Persons: Trump, Chesebro, Alex Jones, John Eastman, Rudolph W, Giuliani, Trump’s, —, Jack Smith Organizations: Mr, Electoral College, Capitol Locations: Georgia

Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer criminally charged in Georgia for his role in what prosecutors describe as a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election in favor of Donald J. Trump, accepted a plea deal on Friday, becoming the third of 19 co-defendants to plead guilty in the wide-ranging criminal racketeering indictment that also names Mr. Trump. The plea from Mr. Chesebro, 62, came a day after Sidney K. Powell, another Trump-aligned lawyer charged in the case, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. Both defendants had exercised their right to a speedy trial under Georgia law, and had been preparing for jury selection to start on Monday. Under the agreement, Mr. Chesebro pleaded guilty to a single felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing of false documents and was sentenced to five years’ probation, although if he complies with its terms he may later ask that his probation be reduced to three years. He was also instructed to write a letter of apology to the state of Georgia (he said he had already done so) and to pay $5,000 in restitution to the Georgia secretary of state’s office.

Persons: Kenneth Chesebro, Donald J, Trump, Chesebro, Sidney K, Powell, Chesebro’s, “, Scott Hall, bondsman Organizations: Trump Locations: Georgia, Fulton County ,, Atlanta

On Dec. 24, 2020, Kenneth Chesebro and other lawyers fighting to reverse President Donald J. Trump’s election defeat were debating whether to file litigation contesting Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory in Wisconsin, a key swing state. Mr. Chesebro argued there was little doubt that the litigation would fail in court — he put the odds of winning at “1 percent” — as Mr. Trump continued to push his baseless claims of widespread fraud, according to emails reviewed by The New York Times. But the “relevant analysis,” Mr. Chesebro argued, “is political.”The emails have new significance because Mr. Chesebro is scheduled to be one of the first two of Mr. Trump’s 18 co-defendants to go on trial this month on charges brought by the district attorney’s office in Fulton County, Ga. The indictment accused Mr. Chesebro of conspiring to create slates of so-called fake electors pledged to Mr. Trump in several states that Mr. Biden had won. Mr. Chesebro’s lawyers have argued that his work was shielded by the First Amendment and that he “acted within his capacity as a lawyer.” They have called for his case to be dismissed, saying he was merely “researching and finding precedents in order to form a legal opinion, which was then supplied to his client, the Trump campaign.”

Persons: Kenneth Chesebro, Donald J, Joseph R, Biden, Chesebro, —, Trump, Mr, “, Trump’s, ” Organizations: “, The New York Times, Mr Locations: Wisconsin, Fulton County ,

Since lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell have both filed speedy trial demands, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said their trial would begin Oct. 23, but he seemed skeptical of prosecutors’ arguments that all 19 defendants could be tried together that soon. The judge said Chesebro and Powell would be tried together starting on the Oct. 23 trial date already set for Chesebro to comply with their demands for a speedy trial. Four other defendants who are also seeking to move their cases to federal court have hearings set before Jones later this month. Whenever and wherever any trial in the case ultimately takes place, jury selection is likely to be a challenge. Jury selection in a racketeering and gang case brought last year by Willis began in January and is still ongoing.

Persons: Donald Trump, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Scott McAfee, ”, Nathan Wade, Fani Willis, Chesebro, Powell, Scott Grubman, “, Chesebro’s, ” Chesebro, Trump, Manny Arora, She’s, Brian Rafferty, they're, Will Wooten, Mark Meadows, Steve Jones, Jones, McAfee, Willis, Willis ’, aren’t Organizations: ATLANTA, YouTube, Trump, Chesebro, Georgia Republicans, Republican, White House, U.S, District, Atlanta Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, Coffee County

CNN —Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who is presiding over the Georgia election subversion case against former President Donald Trump and 18 other co-defendants, will hold his first hearing Wednesday afternoon amid questions of how soon a trial could begin. The hearing could provide key insight into how much evidence Fulton County prosecutors have in their case against Trump and his allies who are accused of interfering in Georgia’s 2020 election results to try to flip the state away from Joe Biden. All 19 defendants charged in the sprawling Fulton County racketeering case – including Powell and Chesebro – have pleaded not guilty and waived their right to an in-person arraignment. Last week, Chesebro’s legal team filed a separate motion asking the Fulton County judge not to force him go to trial alongside his co-defendant Powell. Willis has said she wants to keep the case together and hold one massive trial for all the defendants beginning in October.

Persons: Scott McAfee, Donald Trump, Trump, Joe Biden, McAfee, Fani, Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Powell, Chesebro, Chesebro –, isn’t, Willis Organizations: CNN, Trump Locations: Fulton County, Georgia, York, Fulton

☆ Kenneth Chesebro, architect of fake electors plot, pleads not guilty in Georgia election case
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Marshall Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, the architect of the Trump campaign’s fake electors plot in 2020, pleaded not guilty Friday in the Georgia election subversion case, according to a court filing. Chesebro is facing seven criminal charges, including a violation of Georgia’s RICO act and conspiracy to commit forgery. In a court filing Friday, Chesebro’s attorney said he already gave Willis a hard drive for the evidence. The filing went on to say, “The State has publicly trumpeted that it is ready to go to trial immediately. Some defendants are attempting to move the case into federal court.

Persons: Kenneth Chesebro, Chesebro, Fani Willis, Chesebro’s, Willis, ”, Scott Grubman, Donald Trump Organizations: CNN, Trump, State Locations: Georgia, Fulton County, ” Fulton

As part of her request, Willis noted that one of the defendants, Kenneth Chesebro, sought a quick trial under Georgia’s Speedy Trial Act. Late Friday, another defendant, attorney Sidney Powell, also requested a speedy trial, according to a new filing. How does Georgia’s speedy trial law work? Under Georgia law, any criminal defendant has the right to demand a trial within weeks of being indicted. Lawyers for Trump told the judge that they oppose the proposed October 23 trial date, and will attempt to separate his Georgia case from Chesebro, who wanted to speed up the trial date.

Persons: Fani Willis, Willis, Kenneth Chesebro, Georgia’s, Sidney Powell, ”, Chesebro, Elie Honig, Andrew Fleischman Organizations: State, CNN, Trump Locations: Fulton County, Georgia, ” Georgia, Chesebro

☆ Kenneth Chesebro, alleged architect of fake electors’ plot, followed Alex Jones around Capitol grounds on January 6th
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Andrew Kaczynski Em Steck Yahya Abou-Ghazala | Andrew Kaczynski | Em Steck | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

But a CNN investigation has placed him outside of the Capitol at the same time as his alleged plot to keep Trump in office unraveled inside it. CNN was able to place Chesebro at the protest through publicly available databases with photos and videos from that day. Shroyer, who had previously signed a deferred prosecution agreement in another case saying he would not engage in disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds, was charged with four misdemeanors. Later, the group, including Chesebro, make their way halfway up the steps of the Capitol Building before heading down. Chesebro follows members of the group as they depart the Capitol grounds close to 3 p.m.Later, Chesebro can be seen walking near the Peace Monument at the front of the Capitol.

Persons: Alex Jones, riling, Jones, Donald Trump’s, Kenneth Chesebro, Chesebro, ”, Jared Holt, Lawrence Tribe, Jim Troupis, Biden, John Eastman, —, “, Infowars –, Owen Shroyer, Shroyer, Ryan Goodman, ” Goodman Organizations: CNN, Capitol, Trump, Institute for Strategic, Harvard, Republican, New York Times, New York University, Department of Defense, Committee, Trump International Hotel Locations: Fulton County , Georgia, Georgia, cryptocurrency, Wisconsin, Washington , DC, DC

CNN —Special counsel Jack Smith unveiled his case alleging that former President Donald Trump broke several laws in his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, with a grand jury indictment returned Tuesday that illustrated the depth and breadth of the federal criminal investigation. Trump, who has derided Smith’s case as a politically motivated “fake indictment,” has been summoned to appear before a magistrate judge on Thursday. Prosecutors put forward several examples of Trump being told by his aides that fraud claims he was promoting were false. The new indictment recounts a conversation between Trump and Meadows, during which Meadows allegedly told Trump that he had observed Georgia election officials were “conducting themselves in an exemplary fashion,” while assuring Trump they would find fraud if it existed. Hours later, Trump tweeted that the election officials were “terrible people” who were trying to cover-up evidence of fraud.

Persons: Jack Smith, Donald Trump, Prosecutors, Trump “, Trump, ”, it’s, ” Trump, Wisconsin –, “, Mike Pence, Department of Homeland Security’s, –, Kenneth Chesebro, Rudy Guiliani –, memorializing, they’re, Pence, Pat Cipollone, Trump’s, Giuliani, ” Pence, Pat Philbin, Philbin, Mark Meadows, Meadows, Tanya Chutkan –, Obama, Smith, he’ll Organizations: CNN, Trump, ”, White, Justice, Republican, Justice Department, Department of Homeland, Infrastructure Security Agency, Prosecutors, AZ, Capitol, CNN Prosecutors, “, Manhattan Locations: United States, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Detroit, Arizona, Cipollone, Trump, Meadows, Georgia, DC, Alabama

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