Tag: Kenneth Chesebro

Wisconsin AG Hits 3 Trump Allies with 2020 Election-Related Charges

Admin
Josh Kaul

Democratic Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul on Tuesday charged three Trump allies with felony forgery related to the 2020 election.

Two attorneys, Kenneth Chesebro and Jim Troupis, along with former aide Mike Roman, face one count each of forgery related to their role in attempting to submit alternate elector certificates to Congress stating former President Donald Trump, rather than President Joe Biden, won the 2020 election in the state. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers shared a one word statement on X in response to the charges: “Good.”

Read the full story

Ken Chesebro Will ‘Poison’ Case Against Trump If He Testifies in Georgia Election Trial, Anti-Trump Lawyer Warns

Tom Pappert

A lawyer and author known for his critiques of the Trump administration told CNN on Friday that lawyer Ken Chesebro, who signed a plea agreement with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, would likely help former President Donald Trump if called to testify in Georgia.

Elie Honig, a former U.S. Assistant Attorney for the Southern District of New York, called Chesebro a “mixed bag” who may not help Willis prove her case.

Read the full story

Georgia Law Means Fani Willis’ Plea Deal Recipient ‘Completely Exonerated’ After Probation

Tom Pappert

A Georgia law means defendants who reached plea deals with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in the Georgia election case against former President Donald Trump will likely be “completely exonerated” after the terms of their sentencing are complete.

Georgia’s First Offender Act allows some guilty defendants, who were not previously convicted of a felony, to have the criminal charge against them removed from their criminal record after serving the terms of the sentence issued against them. At least two of the lawyers who entered into a plea agreement with Willis appear likely to receive first-offender status.

Read the full story

Ken Chesebro Becomes Third Defendant to Accept Plea Deal in Georgia Election Case

Tom Pappert

Attorney Kenneth Chesebro entered a plea agreement with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Friday. Chesebro is the third defendant to accept a plea deal, following attorney Sidney Powell and bail bondsman Scott Hall.

Chesebro pleaded to just one felony count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which reported that Willis dropped the other six felony counts against him in exchange for a guilty plea and the promise to truthfully testify in upcoming trials.

Read the full story

Sidney Powell’s Georgia Plea Deal Will Help President Trump, His Lawyer Claims

Tom Pappert

Former President Donald Trump will benefit from the plea deal Sidney Powell accepted from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, according to Georgia lawyer Steve Sadow, who said Powell’s requirement to truthfully testify in upcoming trials related to the 2020 election in Georgia will help Trump.

Sadow said in a statement to The Messenger that Powell’s testimony, which is required as part of her plea deal, “will be favorable” to his defense strategy, “[a]ssuming truthful testimony in the Fulton County case.”

Read the full story

First Georgia Election Trial Unlikely to Finish Before State’s Republican Primary

Tom Pappert

The first trial of those indicted in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and his allies will begin on October 23, and Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee said Monday he will instruct jurors to expect a five month trial.

If McAfee’s estimate is accurate, the case against pro-Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell is likely to be ongoing when Georgia Republicans cast primary votes for their preferred Republican candidates on March 12, 2024. This means the trial could conclude as late as March 25.

Read the full story

Two Grand Jurors Behind Georgia Trump Indictment Agree to Interviews with Defense Attorneys

Tom Pappert

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee confirmed on Monday that two of the Georgians who served on the special grand jury which recommended charges against former President Donald Trump and those who helped him contest the 2020 election in Georgia will be interviewed by the defense teams of pro-Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell.

McAfee said attorneys for Chesebro and Powell will interview two grand jurors who “expressed interest” in being interviewed, and clarified they “would be on the record,” for the interview. However, he added that it will not be a public proceeding. The interviews will be held on October 20, the same day jury selection will begin for the case.

Read the full story

Fani Willis Wants Former Wisconsin GOP Chair, Ronna McDaniel, and Alex Jones to Testify in Georgia Election Trial

Tom Pappert

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis revealed three new witnesses she intends to call in the trial of pro-Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell in filings made on Tuesday. Willis’ office named Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Infowars radio host Alex Jones, and former Wisconsin Republican Party chairman Andrew Hitt in documents requesting their testimony.

Hitt was a Republican alternative elector in Wisconsin, and Willis claims he received an email from Chesebro on December 10, 2020, then met with Chesebro on December 14, as Wisconsin Republicans signed a document identifying themselves as Republican Electoral College electors.

Read the full story

Fani Willis Argues Attorney-Client Privilege Invalid for Lawyer Who Wrote Memos for Trump Campaign in Georgia

Tom Pappert

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis argued in a legal filing on Tuesday that attorney-client privilege should not be extended to legal memos and emails written by pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who she indicted in August for the legal strategies he gave former President Donald Trump and his campaign in support of their 2020 election contest in Georgia.

In response to Chesebro’s request to have a handful of memos and emails stricken, citing his attorney-client privilege with the Trump campaign, Willis and Fulton County argued the “documents formed the bases for a criminal conspiracy” to “unlawfully overturn” the 2020 election results, and thus “cannot receive the protections afforded to lawful attorney communications or documents.”

Read the full story

Pro-Trump Attorney Challenges Fani Willis on First Amendment, RICO Validity in Georgia Election Case Against Him

Tom Pappert

In a pair of legal filings submitted Friday, attorney Kenneth Chesebro claims the case levied against him by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be dismissed based on First Amendment protections, and that she has failed to prove the racketeering charges against him. Chesebro, an attorney who assisted with former President Donald Trump’s effort to contest the 2020 election, requested Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee hold a hearing for arguments related to the latest filings.

The pair of filings were submitted by Chesebro’s attorneys on Friday afternoon, which The Messenger notes is the final day for parties to file written responses, and follow McAfee’s decision to toss a separate motion to dismiss the indictment earlier that morning.

Read the full story

Fani Willis Seeks Testimony from Trump Ally Boris Epshteyn in First Georgia 2020 Election Trial

Tom Pappert

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) is seeking testimony from lawyer and political consultant Boris Epshteyn in the trial of lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, according to a court filing made public Thursday.

Willis wants a Washington, D.C. judge to force Epshteyn, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, to testify about actions taken by Chesebro and Powell during Trump’s challenge of the 2020 election results. Fulton County promised Epshteyn will not be prosecuted for any information gleaned from his testimony.

Read the full story

Judge Cautions Fulton County Prosecutors over Witness Requirements, Expects Trial May Take Five Months

Tom Pappert

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee cautioned prosecutors working for District Attorney Fani Willis against calling witnesses not specifically outlined in their witness list. McAfee made his warning during a procedural hearing on Friday for the trial of attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell, who face charges for their alleged part in what Willis claims was a racketeering scheme meant to illegally influence the 2020 election in Georgia.

Responding to a discovery notice filed by prosecutors, which sought to notify the court of their intention to call additional witnesses who provided testimony to the special grand jury but are not identified as witnesses, McAfee told special prosecutor Nathan Wade he expects “the state to be adhering to witness list rules, and if there are witnesses that are buried in discovery somewhere that don’t make it on that list, we’re going to have an issue and we’re going to have to talk through it.”

Read the full story

Lawyer Indicted in Georgia Trump Case Warns Fani Willis Violated Attorney-Client Privilege, Wants Evidence Stricken

Tom Pappert

Attorney Kenneth Chesebro argued that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis may have violated his privileged communications with clients during her blanket search of his email account, according to legal filing made by his lawyers on Thursday.

Chesebro, who is among those indicted by Willis in her racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and those who helped him contest the 2020 election, alleged that Willis and her office violated Georgia law when it gained blanket access to Chesebro’s email account in July, according to his lawyers’ filing. Chesebro is asking Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to suppress any evidence gathered from those emails.

Read the full story

Pro-Trump Lawyer Gives Court Transcript He Claims Proves Georgia’s GOP Electors Broke No Laws

Tom Pappert

A transcript of a December 2020 meeting among those who became the Republican slate of alternative electors in Georgia appears to directly contradict claims levied by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in her August indictment of former President Donald Trump and 18 others involved with his efforts to contest the 2020 election.

Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who is among those indicted in the Georgia racketeering case against former President Donald Trump, submitted the transcript to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAffee in a filing that seeks to dismiss charges related Republican slate of alternative electors.

Read the full story

Georgia Trump Case Severed from Powell, Chesebro in First Major Blow to Fani Willis

Tom Pappert

The criminal case in Fulton County, Georgia against lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell was severed from the greater indictment against former President Donald Trump and the other 17 defendants on Thursday morning, representing the first major blow to District Attorney Fani Willis (D).

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee received arguments from Willis and the defendants on Wednesday, and on Thursday morning ultimately determined it was “a procedural and logistical inevitability” to sever the cases. McAfee also wrote that “[a]dditional divisions of these 17 defendants may well be required” as the trial proceeds.

Read the full story

One Trial with 19 Defendants Only ‘Feasible’ Option to Prosecute Georgia Trump Case, Fani Willis Claims

Tom Pappert

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis claimed the only “feasible” way to prosecute former President Donald Trump and 18 other defendants is in one, unified case on Wednesday. Willis said separating the cases, as multiple defendants have requested, would “create an enormous strain” for Fulton County.

Willis, in a legal filing submitted with colleagues F. McDonald Wakeford and Alex Bernick, argued to preserve the case against Trump and the other defendants who helped him contest the 2020 election. The filing was submitted to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee on Wednesday.

Read the full story

Fani Willis to Call 150 Witnesses over Four Month Trial in Georgia RICO Case Against Trump, Allies

Tom Pappert

Wednesday marked the first, live-streamed hearing in Fulton County’s racketeering case against former President Donald Trump and 18 other defendants who aided his 2020 election contest, and prosecutors revealed that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis intends to call 150 witnesses over a four-month trial slated to begin on October 23.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee originally planned for the hearing to include arraignments, but all 19 defendants waived their right to arraignment and entered not guilty pleas before the court appearance. Instead, Judge McAfee heard attorneys for Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro invoke their clients’ rights to a speedy trial, specifically requesting to be severed from each other and the other defendants in the case.

Read the full story