ATLANTA, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 20: Kenneth Chesebro speaks to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee during a hearing where Chesebro accepted a plea deal from the Fulton County District Atorney at the Fulton County Courthouse October 20, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. Chesebro was facing seven charges related to his alleged role as the legal architect in using Trump electors in Georgia and other key states to undermine the 2020 elections. (Photo by Alyssa Pointer/Getty Images)
Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer who is accused of participating in a plot to overturn the election results in favor of former President Donald Trump, accepted a plea agreement in Georgia on Friday.
He is one of 19 co-defendants, including Trump himself, in the case.
A day before Chesebro’s admission of guilt, Sidney K. Powell, another Trump-affiliated lawyer, also pleaded guilty and agreed to work with the prosecution. Although they both originally requested a speedy trial, they have now decided to plead guilty prior to the start of the trial.
The trial will no longer take place.
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Chesebro’s plea deal has contributed to a sudden increase in momentum for prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia.
By agreeing to testify truthfully, Chesebro, Powell and a bail bondsman Scott Hall, who agreed to a plea deal in late September, have all agreed to testify against the other defendants.
Chesebro is a lawyer who worked toward discrediting the outcome of the 2020 election and was instrumental in creating the Trump campaign’s plan to present illegitimate GOP elector slates in Georgia and six other states.
His attorneys have denied his involvement in the plan in previous court filings.
He created several memos in 2020, detailing the actions the pro-Trump electors should take in their respective states. In one memo, he acknowledged promoting a controversial strategy that the Supreme Court, even with its conservative supermajority, would likely oppose.
Chesebro and other Trump supporters anticipated that then-Vice President Mike Pence would use these fake GOP electors to delay the certification of Joe Biden‘s victory in Congress, or even to discard Biden’s rightful electors and recognize the fraudulent GOP elector slates on January 6, 2021.
During the court proceedings, it was stated by prosecutors that Chesebro admitted to fabricating and dispersing counterfeit Electoral College records to Trump personnel in Georgia and other states. They also claimed that he collaborated with the Trump campaign in an illegal scheme.
“The defendant provided detailed instructions to co-conspirators in Georgia and other states for creating and distributing these false documents,” prosecutor Daysha Young said at the plea hearing.
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