Trump faces new 'serious threat' his key Jan. 6 defense strategy could be dismantled

The surprise announcement that former Donald Trump lawyer Kenneth Cheebro has agreed to a plea deal in his Georgia racketeering case is a "serious threat" to the former president and his legal team which may be faced with seeing one of their key Jan. 6 defense strategies be made null and void.

According to a report from the New York Times, Chesebro's deal raises the possibility that he can become a star witness in special counsel Jack Smith's prosecution that is getting underway in Washington, D.C. under the eye of Judge Tanya Chutkan.

As the report notes, Chesebro was the author of a multitude of emails with the former president's other lawyers and those will be fair game for the prosecution making the case that Trump knew he lost the elections and was making efforts to stay in office nonetheless.

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Central to the Trump defense in the Jan. 6 indictment is a reported plan to claim the former president was given bad advice at the time of the insurrection that led him to believe he had a legal case to contest the election results.

According to the Times report, "If Mr. Chesebro were to testify that Mr. Trump’s lawsuits challenging his loss were not designed to win, but merely as ploys to sow doubt about the election, it could cut against Mr. Trump’s possible plan to use a so-called advice of counsel defense. That strategy involves blaming one’s lawyers for giving bad advice."

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The report also noted that Chesebro had suggested that "the fake elector plan was 'a bold, controversial strategy' that the Supreme Court was 'likely' to reject," adding, "But much like in the email he would send around that Christmas, Mr. Chesebro said the plan had value even if the Supreme Court shot it down. Creating the fake electors would achieve two goals, the memo said. They would focus attention on claims of voter fraud and 'buy the Trump campaign more time to win litigation that would deprive Biden of electoral votes and/or add to Trump’s column.'"

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