In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
Third of eighteen Georgia election fraud defendants pled guilty today.
Two lawyers, KENNETH CHESEBRO pled guilty October 19& 20.
On October 20, 2023, KENNETH CHESEBRO, a Harvard Law School graduate, pled guilty to a felony.
On October 19, 2023, SIDNEY POWELL, a University of North Carolina Law School graduate, pled guilty to six misdemeanors.
On September 29, 2023, SCOTT HALL, a North Carolina bail bondsman, was the first to plead guilty to misdemeanors in the RICO case against TRUMP and his co-conspirators.
As they say in Latin legalese: Fīat iūstitia ruat cælum("Let justice be done though the heavens fall. ")
Supporters of four-time indicted ex-President DONALD JOHN TRUMP locally include former Republican Executive Committee Chair ROY ALYRE ALAIMO, JR..
A former Congressional staffer for then-Rep. RONALD DION DeSANTIS, ROY ALYRE ALAIMO, JR. was appointed as a St. Johns County Commissioner vacancy by Governor DeSANTIS last year, another Christmas present to developer-Senator TRAVIS JAMES HUTSON, whose three pet Commissioners (including two DeSANTIS appointees) voted down environmental protections against rampant deforestation at their October 17, 2023 meeting.
Dodgy ROY ALYRE ALAIMO, JR. is most noted as being the very first contributor to our local TRUMP CLUB in the current Supervisor of Elections reporting cycle, which commenced a year after the January 6, 2021 attack on our United States Capitol.
Trump co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro pleads guilty in Georgia election case
Chesebro became the second former Trump lawyer to plead guilty in as many days, following Sidney Powell on Thursday
Kenneth Chesebro appears before Judge Scott MacAfee during a motions hearing on Oct. 10 in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer/AP)
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ATLANTA — Kenneth Chesebro, a former lawyer for Donald Trump’s campaign, pleaded guilty Friday to illegally conspiring to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia, a deal in which he will avoid jail time and agreed to provide evidence that implicates other co-defendants, including Trump himself.
Chesebro was the second former Trump lawyer to accept a plea deal in the sprawling conspiracy case in as many days. The plea came in just hours after jury selection began, ahead of an expected trial next month.
Chesebro pleaded guilty to a single felony count of conspiracy to file false documents and accepted a sentence of three to five years of probation, a $1,000 fine, $5,000 in restitution to the state of Georgia, an apology letter, 100 hours of community service and a promise to testify truthfully against any other co-defendants in the case, should they go to trial.
In his plea deal, Chesebro implicated several of those co-defendants as being part of the conspiracy to file false documents: Trump, four other lawyers including Rudy Giuliani, and one campaign operative. The charge relates to Chesebro’s role organizing slates of pro-Trump electors to meet in seven states where Biden had won.
Chesebro’s guilty plea follows that of Sidney Powell on Thursday and makes him the third co-defendant to admit guilt in the criminal racketeering case, which alleges Trump and 18 allies broke Georgia law when they sought to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state. In addition to Powell, bail bondsman Scott Hall pleaded guilty earlier this month in the conspiracy — with all agreeing to testify against others in the case.
The plea is the latest legal victory for Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D), whose office is prosecuting the Georgia case. In addition to flipping one of the key members of the alleged conspiracy, prosecutors now avoid a trial in which they would have had to showcase much of their evidence against Trump and others, which might have offered lawyers for other defendants a legal advantage heading into their trials.
The potential for incriminating testimony from three of Trump’s co-defendants could have a far-reaching impact on the former president’s legal fortunes, as well as some of the other high-profile defendants, notably Giuliani, who is alleged to have known about Powell’s and Chesebro’s efforts to help overturn Trump’s loss.
Chesebro is a Harvard Law School graduate whose past work includes assisting then-Vice President Al Gore’s legal team during the 2000 recount of Florida’s presidential votes. He had been facing seven charges related to his alleged role as the legal architect of a plan to use Trump electors in Georgia and other key states to undermine legitimate 2020 electoral college votes to swing the election to the Republican nominee.
Chesebro, who had originally pleaded not guilty, appeared before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee on Friday, smiling and appearing in good spirits.
If he abides by the terms of probation, the charge will be expunged from his record under the first-offender terms of the deal. In addition, the plea describes the crime to which Chesebro pleaded guilty — conspiring to file false documents — as not being one of “moral turpitude.” That could enable him to resume practicing law.
Chesebro did not plead guilty to the charge that all 19 defendants in the case initially faced — participating in a racketeering enterprise. He alluded to his unwillingness to admit guilt to some of the allegations in an exchange with the judge.
“Are you pleading guilty today because you believe there is a factual basis for moving forward with this charge?” McAfee asked, to which Chesebro pointedly replied: “Yes, this charge.”
After Chesebro pleaded guilty, his lawyer asked McAfee if his client’s probation case could be transferred to Puerto Rico, his current home. McAfee said that could “complicate” the terms of his probation, and Chesebro agreed to stay in Atlanta for a few days to work out the details.
Was he planning to leave today?” McAfee asked Chesebro’s lawyer, Scott Grubman.
“He was planning to stay here for three to six months,” Grubman replied, prompting laughter at the reference to the now-averted trial that was due to begin early next month.
As part of his plea, Chesebro admitted to a range of activities, including a central role devising a plan to convene Trump electors. He also admitted that the purpose of the plan was to disrupt the proceedings on Jan. 6, 2021, when a joint session of Congress had convened to vote on the electoral college tally that would declare Joe Biden the next president. Chesebro admitted as part of the pleading that he attended the protest at the Capitol that day.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Grubman said the plea deal given to his client suggested he was not a major player in the alleged 2020 election scheme.
rubman said the deal “proves that he was not and never was the architect of any sort of fake elector plan or anything like that.”
Though he said his client had agreed to testify against other co-defendants, he said he and Chesebro would be surprised if he were tapped as a witness in any future case. “He didn’t snitch on anyone,” Grubman said. “He simply decided it was time for him to put this behind him and go on with his life.”
The case against Chesebro centered around his role in crafting a plan where slates of Trump electors met in key battleground states, including Georgia, to sign documents falsely claiming Trump, not Biden, had won the vote in their states.
Through his attorneys, Chesebro claimed he was merely offering legal opinions to his client, the Trump campaign, and unsuccessfully argued to block memos and other emails he sent to Republicans across the country and others working on the Trump campaign from being used at trial.
Chesebro’s testimony could touch on a number of his co-defendants. The 98-page indictment portrays Chesebro as central not just to the convening of contingency electors but also to the “strategy for disrupting and delaying the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.”
The seven felony charges he had faced included conspiracy to commit forgery and conspiracy to file false documents, as well as violation of an anti-racketeering act originally aimed at dismantling organized crime groups. In the separate federal case brought against Trump, Chesebro has not been charged. Prosecutors described him only as “Co-Conspirator 5,” saying he was behind “a corrupt plan to subvert the federal government function by stopping Biden electors’ votes from being counted and certified.”
Chesebro lost two key motions the day before his plea, including one to exclude all his communications on the premise that they were confidential under attorney-client privilege. Those procedural defeats could have set the stage for the plea deal.
Also this week, a Michigan prosecutor told a judge she had reached a cooperation agreement with one of the 16 Republicans who had signed official-looking paperwork falsely claiming Trump had won that state.
The judge on Thursday dismissed the charges against Trump elector James Renner, but neither side made public the terms of the prosecution’s deal with him.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) in July charged Renner and 15 others with eight felony counts each, including forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery. The prosecution of the others is ongoing.
Gardner reported from Washington. Patrick Marley in Madison, Wis., contributed to this report.
They figure the more power that is taken from the federal government, the less taxes they'll have to pay, the less they'll have to work with the other side, the less they'll have to answer to anyone...the more power they'll have over people in the states, in their communities, and in general. They figure having a far right mad man in the Whitehouse was the best way to go about that. Jesus would not be pleased.
Where is justice for the Tea Party maniacs and election conspiracy theory trolls who peddled seditious lies in SJC?
ReplyDeleteThey figure the more power that is taken from the federal government, the less taxes they'll have to pay, the less they'll have to work with the other side, the less they'll have to answer to anyone...the more power they'll have over people in the states, in their communities, and in general. They figure having a far right mad man in the Whitehouse was the best way to go about that. Jesus would not be pleased.
ReplyDelete