By
Kenneth Chesebro on Friday pleaded guilty in the Georgia election interference case, the day after Sidney Powell did the same.
The lawyers charged in the sprawling racketeering case were set to be the first to face trial. Now, three of Donald Trump's 18 co-defendants have pleaded guilty, following Scott Hall's plea last month.
As laid out in the indictment, Chesebro was a legal architect of the fake elector scheme to keep Trump in power despite losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Though Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony and Powell pleaded guilty to several misdemeanors, both are set to receive probation. Chesebro has agreed to pay $5,000, complete 100 hours of community service, and write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia, which he has already completed.
As part of their plea deals, both Chesebro and Powell will have to testify truthfully in related proceedings. It’s unclear what they have told or will tell prosecutors, but they were involved in distinct aspects of the broader plot to overturn the 2020 election, so they could cover different ground in potentially testifying or otherwise providing evidence against the remaining defendants.
Clearing their cases off the calendar also makes way for those remaining 16 defendants to be tried sooner, including Trump himself, who doesn’t have a trial date yet.