Kenneth Chesebro, Trump co-defendant in Georgia 2020 election case, pleads guilty

Kenneth Chesebro, a Trump co-defendant in the Fulton County criminal election interference case, has entered a guilty plea a day after another co-defendant, Sidney Powell, an attorney aligned with former President Donald Trump, also reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in the Fulton County case.

Chesebro agreed Friday to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit filing false documents just before his trial was to begin next week.

Chesebro originally faced seven counts. He pleaded guilty to one, and the other six other counts were dismissed.

When the judge asked him if he agreed to the factual basis for the charge, his reply was, "Yes, this charge."

Under the terms of the plea deal, Chesebro was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution. He is to testify in other trials and hearings, provide documents and evidence. And he is to have no communication with media, witnesses and co-defendants and record a proffer with prosecutors.

He will also have to serve 100 hours community service and write an apology letter to citizens of Georgia.

Chesbro is alleged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to have proposed, in a memo to Trump allies, "a bold, controversial strategy" to overturn the election: appoint alternate electors loyal to Trump in several states. 

This proposal and at least one other memo he penned were referred to in the Georgia indictment as overt acts "in furtherance of the conspiracy." The seven original counts against him stemmed from the plan to submit a slate of fake electors from Georgia. 

Chesebro's attorney, Scott Grubman, said after Friday's hearing that Chesebro — who is one of 19 co-defendants in the Fulton County case, including Trump — has been portrayed as the "architect to overturn democracy," but he argued that if this were true, prosecutors would not have offered him five years probation in a plea deal.

Grubman said the state agreed that Chesebro did not commit what Georgia refers to as a crime of moral turpitude, which he noted was "extremely important to Mr. Chesebro's prospects of continuing to practice law."

If called to testify, Chesebro will do so, Grubman said. 

"The plea agreement says that if he's called he'll testify, and he's a man of his word. If he's called, he'll testify." Grubman said. "That doesn't mean that they'll call him. I don't think that's anywhere near a certainty, and in fact, quite frankly, I would be surprised if they did that."

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Graham Kates

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com