The Trump allies pleading guilty
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 October 2023
⏱️ 26 minutes
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Summary
What to know about the many guilty pleas rolling into the Georgia case charging former president Donald Trump and his allies with election interference.
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The Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta has become the epicenter of one of the most-watched criminal cases in the country right now, charging former President Donald Trump and his allies with interfering with Georgia’s 2020 election results. This week, reporters and politicians alike have been shocked by a windfall of guilty pleas.
Recognizable faces including former Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis, and lesser-known political figures such as Kenneth Chesebro and Scott Hall all pleaded guilty in the sweeping criminal racketeering case.
Today, national correspondent Holly Bailey explains what happened in the courtroom this past week and whether Trump’s list of allies might suddenly be turning against him.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Right now a courthouse in Georgia is the epicenter of one of the most watched criminal cases in the country. |
| 0:09.0 | Charges that former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies conspired to overturn the 2020 election. |
| 0:17.0 | We were at the Fulton County Courthouse, you know, I got there super early because 450 prospective jurors have been summoned to fill out |
| 0:26.3 | questionnaires in the case that was proceeding against Kenneth Chesborough. |
| 0:31.6 | It quickly became pretty clear that something was going on. |
| 0:35.0 | Holly Bailey is a national correspondent for the post and she's basically been living at this courthouse for months, following this unfolding |
| 0:45.3 | case against more than a dozen defendants. |
| 0:48.2 | Then finally, on Friday, the trial of one of those defendants was about to begin. The trial of one of those defendants was about to begin. |
| 0:53.6 | The trial of lawyer Kenneth Chesborough. |
| 0:56.6 | He's not a household name to people across this country, |
| 0:59.9 | and in fact his name was not even mentioned as part of any of this for many many |
| 1:06.0 | months and so most people have no idea who this guy is at all but he was allegedly behind this sort of providing the legal backbone for efforts by the |
| 1:19.5 | foreign President Trump and his allies to overturn the election not only in Georgia, but all in these key |
| 1:25.8 | battleground states including Arizona and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. |
| 1:40.0 | For Holly, this was finally going to be the moment where she get to see how this case would play out in front of jurors. She was about to see how they would treat racketeering charges usually reserved for mobsters in a case about election interference. |
| 1:48.0 | But then... |
| 1:50.0 | He did not show up at a scheduled court appearance that morning. |
| 1:53.5 | He was attorney, walked past us and said, I can only confirm he's in the building, and |
| 1:56.9 | that was a huge tale that something was going on. |
| 1:59.5 | Yes. |
| 2:00.5 | Please lower your hand and state your true incorrect legal name. |
| 2:02.8 | Kenneth John Chesbro. |
... |
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