Pro-Donald Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro has agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors in the Georgia election subversion case, delivering a major win for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in her sprawling case against the former president and several others.
Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony on Friday, becoming the second defendant in the case to reach an agreement to cooperate with prosecutors this week, and the third overall. On Thursday, former Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell, who was set to go on trial alongside Chesebro, pleaded guilty, and Scott Hall, a bail bondsman, took a deal last month.
Chesebro, who was charged alongside Trump and 17 others with violating the state’s anti-racketeering law, pleaded guilty to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents in a last-minute deal.
In Chesebro's case, prosecutors recommended five years' probation, $5,000 restitution, an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia and 100 hours community service.
For Willis, the guilty pleas allow her to avoid a lengthy trial of just two defendants — which would have given those remaining a peek at her trial strategy — and to whittle down an unwieldy pool of defendants.
Chesebro was initially charged with felony racketeering and six other counts as part of a wide-ranging scheme to keep the Republican president in power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. The indictment alleges Chesebro coordinated and executed a plan to have 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate declaring falsely that Trump won the state and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.
For prosecutors, the plea deal assures that Chesebro publicly accepts responsibility for his conduct in the case and removes the uncertainty of a trial by a jury of his peers. It also compels him to testify about communications he had with Trump’s campaign lawyers and close associates, including co-defendant Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and a Trump attorney.
All of the other defendants, including Trump and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, have pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors allege that Chesebro unlawfully conspired with Trump and lawyers associated with his campaign to have the group of Georgia Republicans sign the false elector certificate and to submit it to various federal authorities. He also communicated with Trump campaign lawyers and Republican leaders in other swing states won by Biden to get those states to submit false slates of electors as well, prosecutors alleged.
That included writing memos advocating for Republicans in those states to meet and cast electoral votes for Trump and providing detailed instructions for how the process should be carried out. In an email to Giuliani, he outlined strategies to disrupt and delay the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, during which electoral votes were to be certified. He wrote that those strategies were "preferable to allowing the Electoral Count Act to operate by its terms.”