A second campaign lawyer for former US president Donald Trump on Friday reached a plea deal that would see him testify for the prosecution in the case alleging that the former US president led a criminal conspiracy to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.
Kenneth Chesebro, 62, was indicted on racketeering and other charges in the southern state in August along with the former president and 17 other codefendants.
Chesebro was accused of orchestrating a plan to submit a slate of fake electors to Congress in a bid to block certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump.
hoto: Bloomberg
Jury selection for his trial began on Friday at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, but was abruptly halted after Chesebro entered into a surprise last-minute plea deal with prosecutors.
Chesebro, a graduate of Harvard Law School, faced seven charges including racketeering — a felony that carries jail time — conspiracy to commit forgery and conspiracy to file false documents.
He pleaded guilty to the single charge of conspiracy to file false documents in exchange for a sentence of five years probation, US$5,000 in restitution and 100 hours of community service.
“You are to testify truthfully in any other proceedings in this case against any and all other codefendants,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee added at the plea hearing.
Chesebro’s guilty plea came one day another former Trump campaign attorney, Sidney Powell, also entered into a plea deal with prosecutors that would see her testify at the upcoming trials of the other codefendants.
Powell, 68, was a vocal Trump supporter who pushed outlandish conspiracy theories about foreign manipulation of voting machines.
She pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to interfere with the performance of election duties and was sentenced to six years of probation.
Legal analysts said the plea deals are a potential blow to Trump, who is accused of leading a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election result in Georgia, where Biden won by about 12,000 votes.
In addition to having two of his former lawyers testifying against him, Trump and his attorneys will also no longer be able to have an early look at the evidence and strategy that prosecutors might have used at his own eventual trial.
Meanwhile, in a separate case against Trump, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ordered the 77-year-old former president to pay a US$5,000 fine within 10 days to the New York Lawyers’ Fund for Client Protection for not complying with a partial gag order.
“Make no mistake: future violations, whether intentional or unintentional, will subject the violator to far more severe sanctions,” including jail time, Engoron said in a court filing.
Engoron slapped a limited gag order on the former president on Oct. 3 after he insulted the judge’s principal law clerk in a social media post on his Truth Social platform.
The offending post was removed from Truth Social the same day, but the judge complained in his filing on Friday that it remained on a Trump 2024 campaign Web site for 17 days, until the court asked on Thursday that it be taken down.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
RSS