All posts tagged "Ken Chesebro"

Former President Donald Trump's legal adviser Ken Chesebro, who recently pleaded guilty in the Georgia election racketeering case, has "devastating" information against him — and is prepared to deliver the goods to Fulton County prosecutors.

That's the view of former White House ethics czar and impeachment lawyer Norm Eisen, who together with Foundation for Defense of Democracies fellow Tom Joscelyn walked through the implications in an article for Just Security.

"The State has evidence to argue that even other lawyers for Trump, who had a motive to conclude Chesebro’s plan was lawful and to join it because its goal was to reelect Trump, had significant concerns regarding Chesebro’s scheme and were unwilling to participate in it," they wrote. "The State can in turn argue that this is evidence that Chesebro’s scheme was unlawful and he knew it."...

Andrew Weissmann, former FBI general counsel and special counsel Robert Mueller's senior prosecutor, said that Kenneth Chesebro's copping to scheming to invent "fake electors" in order to overturn the 2020 presidential election spells trouble for Trump's inner circle.

"What he has pled to unlike what Sidney Powell pled to, is something that is core to the January 6th scheme," Weissman told Ali Velshi, who was filling in on Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell on Friday. "[Chesebro] has now admitted, as part of his guilty plea, that he was part of a scheme to defraud the voters of Georgia, to overturn their votes in the presidential election."

Chesebro's move comes a day after fellow esquire Sidney Powell accepted a plea deal in Georgia to avoid jail time in return for her becoming a witness for the prosecution once trial begins in Fulton County over alleged racketeering committed by former President Donald Trump and several of his associates. ...

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee denied a motion by Trump-aligned lawyer Kenneth Chesebro to exclude certain evidence from his trial in the Georgia election racketeering case, reported Lawfare's Anna Bowers on Wednesday.

According to the report, Chesebro, whom prosecutors argue helped draft documents advising Trump on an illegal plan to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election, asserted that some of his memos and emails were protected under attorney-client privilege.

But McAfee disagreed, pointing out that his case is about whether the advice he gave the former president was legal, meaning that these materials fall under the crime-fraud exception....

Pro-Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell have been smacked down by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee in their motions to have the charges against them dismissed, reported Lawfare's Anna Bower on Tuesday.

In an order released on Tuesday, McAfee said that further deliberation on the matter wasn't necessary, and the case against the motions is open and shut.

"Having the benefit of the parties' extensive written responses and replies, the Court finds oral argument unnecessary for the demurrers," wrote McAfee, adding that each charge they are challenging is "facially sound as alleged."...

Ken Chesebro, a Donald Trump attorney charged along with the former president in the Georgia election racketeering case, has filed a long shot motion to dismiss his indictment, reported ABC News on Wednesday — based on a clerical technicality.

"In a filing Wednesday, his attorney alleged that Fulton County special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who was brought in by the district attorney to help investigate the case, didn't file the oath of office required to join the DA's team," reported Olivia Rubin. "The motion alleges that Wade filled out the oath of office paperwork, but did not file it as required by law until just last week -- an error that Chesebro says makes Wade's work 'void as a matter of law.'"

"Nathan Wade, who has and continues to serve as lead counsel in this case -- including during the presentment of the case to the criminal grand jury and at the time the underlying indictment was returned -- was not an authorized public officer by Georgia law," said the filing....

Court proceedings in Fulton County, Georgia, Thursday didn't make any friends for Trump's co-defendant's counsel, said former prosecutor David Kelley.

MSNBC's Ari Melber showed a clip of Ken Chesebro's lawyer, Scott Grubman, in court Thursday. In the hearing, he allegedly called the other side a liar, and was ultimately shut down by Judge Scott McAfee

"As an objective matter, some of the lawyering felt Trumpy for me, by which I mean something for other than the judge or legal advocacy," Melber explained....