Trump lawyer's guilty plea leaves him open to new criminal charges across the U.S.: Expert

Donald Trump's former legal adviser Kenneth Chesebro could have opened himself up to new criminal charges around the country by taking a plea deal in the Georgia election racketeering case, according to an expert.

Chesebro followed fellow lawyer Sidney Powell in pleading guilty and agreeing to work with prosecutors in their election interference case against Trump and his remaining co-defendants.

But that deal – which has Chesebro admitting to masterminding the "fake electors" scheme in return for five years' probation, fines, and other requirements – doesn't necessarily keep him out of prison, wrote NYU Law professor and former Defense Department special counsel Ryan Goodman on X.

That's because the conduct he admitted to doesn't just break the law in Georgia, but in several other states where fake Trump electors convened.

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"How does Michigan (and Arizona and Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin etc.) not indict Chesebro now?" wrote Goodman. "He just admitted to the facts that would make for crimes under those states' statutes."

Already some of the electors themselves have been charged with crimes in Michigan, though one of them had his charges dropped this week when he accepted a plea agreement himself.

Chesebro's deal could have significant implications for some of Trump's other co-defendants, Goodman also noted.

"In court proceeding, Chesebro just admitted specific set of facts that squarely implicates Giuliani most directly. Both state and federally," wrote Goodman, adding that attorney John Eastman, who crafted the plan for former Vice President Mike Pence to use the fake electors to block the certification of the real ones, could also be implicated.