E-Paper
Former Donald Trump lawyer denies being ‘architect of Trump elector scheme’ and asks for separate trial in Georgia case
Former Trump campaign lawyer, Kenneth Chesebro, files motion to separate his trial from Sidney Powell's in Georgia election interference case.
Kenneth Chesebro, a former lawyer for Donald Trump’s campaign, filed a motion on Friday to separate his trial from that of Sidney Powell, another former Trump lawyer, in the Georgia election interference case. He argued that there is no connection or overlap between the charges against them, and that he never met or communicated with Powell during their legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in favor of Trump, who lost to Joe Biden.
The motion was submitted to the court in a 6-page document.
According to the court filing, Chesebro denied being the “architect of the Trump elector scheme” as claimed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. He also said that the allegations against Powell were completely different and unrelated to his own. He said that Powell was accused of working on a theory that voting machines were rigged, and that most of her activities were related to Coffee County, Georgia. He emphasized he had no involvement or connection to anything that happened in Coffee County, and that he had never even been there or near it.
ALSO READ| Donald Trump's trial for election fraud in Georgia : How to watch live telecast
Chesebro and Powell both face seven felony counts, including violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, which is the only charge they share. They have both pleaded not guilty in writing and requested speedy trials, as allowed by Georgia law. They have also waived their right to appear in person for their arraignments.
The former attorney from the Trump campaign faces charges that include two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree forgery, two counts of conspiracy to commit making false statements and documents, one count of conspiracy to commit submitting false records, and one count of conspiracy to impersonate a public official.
Powell is additionally accused of two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit computer theft, one count of conspiracy to commit computer trespass, one count of conspiracy to commit invasion of computer privacy, and one count of conspiracy to defraud the state.
Chesebro’s motion claimed that if he was tried with Powell, the state would try to lump them together and convict him based on a “conspiracy” or “RICO” theory that was based on Powell’s conduct, which had nothing to do with him. He said that his actions and Powell’s actions were like “oil and water; wholly separate and impossible to mix.”
ALSO READ| ‘The Loch Ness Monster’ caught on camera twice in one week by two different witnesses
Willis has asked Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to set a trial date of Oct. 23 for all 19 defendants in the case, including Trump himself.
Trump’s legal team filed a motion on Thursday to detach his case from the two former campaign lawyers, arguing that the proposed trial date would not give them enough time to prepare a defense against the 13 felony counts that Trump faces.
