Artwork by Michael DiMIlo
By Geoff Carter
The dominoes are beginning to fall. Who will be next? Nineteen people were indicted in the Fani Willis RICO case against those conspiring to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. And, as we’ve seen so often in TV police dramas like Law and Order, Breaking Bad, or The Wire, prosecutors are starting to pit defendants against each other, offering plea deals to those who agree to testify their fellow defendants. Of course, this is no television show. This is a case which could ultimately decide the fate of our democracy. And Trump’s people, his partners in crime, his co-defendants, are beginning to blink.
First, it was Scott Hall, a Georgia bail bondsman, who accepted a plea deal for conspiring to interfere with Georgia’s elections in the 2020 election when he attempted to illegally break into voting equipment as part of Donald Trump’s scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election. By pleading guilty to five misdemeanor charges of interfering with election duties, Hall will avoid jail time, agreeing to serve five years of probation and to pay a five thousand dollar fine. And there’s one more thing—Hall has to testify against others in the conspiracy, one of whom happened to be attorney Sidney Powell, who, strangely enough, just accepted a plea deal.
Sydney Powell was the next domino to fall. Like Hall, Powell will avoid jail time, serve probation, and pay a minimal fine. And—guess what? As part of her deal, she’ll also be required to testify against others involved in the conspiracy, including Kenneth Cheseboro, who—strangely enough—agreed one day later to a plea deal in which he, like Ms. Powell, pled guilty to one felony charge, will serve and period of probation, must pay a fine in restitution to the Georgia secretary of state office, and testify against others in the conspiracy. Mr. Cheseboro will also be required to turn over documents in his possession.
Mr. Cheseboro’s deal has to be creating fits for the Trump legal defense team. He is the first of the conspirators to be involved in the scheme to create slates of fake electors that were to have been submitted to Congress during the certification process. His testimony will be key in implicating other lawyers, aides, and politicians involved in the conspiracy, perhaps beyond the scope of this trial.
Besides Georgia, fake electors in Michigan have already been indicted in state court, and there are ongoing investigations in Arizona, Wisconsin, and New Mexico to uncover the machinations of this scheme. Pennsylvania and Nevada have dropped their investigations. A number of these states have referred these matters to federal investigations.
One interesting sidebar to this development is that Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson was cited by a witness as being involved in the Wisconsin fake slate of electors. According to this account, on January 6th, 2021, a false certification of Wisconsin electors was delivered to his office. Apparently, the courier instructed the senator was to deliver the false documents directly into then Vice-President Mike Pence’s hands. Mr. Pence was, of course, presiding over the certification electoral vote for the 2020 presidential election, a procedure that was soon to be violently disrupted. Mr. Johnson denies all but minimal involvement (and gross ignorance) of this plan. This may be the tip of the iceberg in terms of Republican party collusion with this plan.
So, who will be the next domino to fall? Out of the nineteen involved in the conspiracy to overturn the election in Georgia, only three have flipped.
The sixteen still standing include minor players like Trump attorneys Jenna Ellis, Ray Smith, Jeffrey Clark, Robert Cheely, Georgia politicians and fake electors David Shafer, Shawn Still, Cathy Latham, and other operatives like Misty Hampton, Stephen Cliffgard Lee, Trevian C. Kutti, and Harrison William Prescott Floyd.
And, of course, the headliners in this circus are Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman, and the man would be king—Donald Trump himself. Who will be the next to fall? The prosecutors have to be scratching their chins and thinking, who is going to help them build the strongest case? The very erratic (and sadly pathetic) Rudy Giuliani? The crusty John Eastman? Or the wily Mark Meadows? It very well could be Jenna Ellis, who was recently begun reviling Trump as “a malignant narcissist” while complaining that her legal bills are not being covered by her old boss. (Big surprise there—Trump never pays his bills.)
If the prosecution wants to nail the brains behind this conspiracy (and I use this term lightly), their logical next move would be to turn deals with those closest to Mr. Trump, the alledged kingpin of the scheme.
Mark Meadows was chief-of-staff to the president and was in direct contact with the ex-president during the time, organizing communications between his boss and Georgia election officials as well as attempting to coerce Georgia election officials.
Trump attorney John Eastman was the alleged mastermind of the fake electors scheme, first attempting to persuade Mike Pence to undermine the electoral certification and then coming up with the fake elector scheme.
Of course, Trump toady and attorney Rudy Giuliani, who was instrumental in attempting to influence state legislators to accept the fake elector slates, is probably closest to the ringleader. His loud and strident claims of election fraud, especially in Georgia, resulted in three recounts—none of which showed any irregularities.
These three were in Trump’s innermost circle. There is no doubt that prosecutors would love to reach plea agreements with them in exchange for their testimony, which would not only be instrumental in the Georgia case but would also be indispensable to the federal January 6th case against the former president to defraud the U.S. government. It is very likely that Powell and Cheseboro’s testimony will be instrumental in Jack Smith’s January 6th federal conspiracy trial in Washington, D.C. The net is widening.
Even though his guilt must be determined in a court of law, there seems little doubt that the Trump White House engaged in a conspiracy that attempted to overthrow the election, and to defraud state of Georgia voters with the ultimate aim of overthrowing the government of the United States.
Who will be offered the next plea deal? Who has the most the offer to the government’s case?
Who was there when Mr. Trump gave the go-ahead for the scheme to create the fake slates of electors in Georgia? Who heard him give the order?
Who was in on the scheme to break into Coffey County voting machines?
Who was there when Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and tried to persuade him to find 11,780 votes—enough to swing the election to him? There is no doubt that the phone call was made, as it was recorded by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.
Prosecutors will not offer plea deals to all nineteen of these defendants. Once they get the testimony they need to prove their case, Ms. Willis will prosecute the remainder to the fullest extent of the law; it is very likely most of them will receive jail time.
So, two questions remain.
Who has the most to offer? And who has the most to lose?
Giuliani has already lost his license. He is broke. His reputation is lost. He is also slavishly devoted to Mr. Trump. As he was in on most of the inner circle meetings, he could provide very damaging testimony, but the same could be said of Mr. Meadows and Mr. Eastman. Eastman was allegedly the legal brains behind the fake elector scheme. Mr. Meadows seemed to be at the heart of the Georgia coercion campaign.
Who will be the next to fall? Who will be the next rat to abandon this sinking ship? Ideology and loyalty seem to be crumbling as the prospect of disgrace, disbarment, and prison time gets closer and closer.
If any of these characters had any sense of morality, justice, or fair play, this situation could be termed a test of character—but there is no honor among thieves—or rats.
Update: On October 24th, Trump attorney Jenna Ellis accepted a plea deal almost identical to those accepted by Cheseboro and Powell. It was also revealed that former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has been granted full immunity for his testimony in the federal January 6th trial…
And the walls come tumbling down…
Notes
- https://www.reuters.com/legal/trump-ally-scott-hall-agrees-plea-deal-georgia-elections-case-2023-09-29/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/20/us/kenneth-chesebro-trump-guilty-plea-georgia.html
- https://apnews.com/article/fake-elector-michigan-trump-abb67e88e2e961be1989731222b4ae92
- https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/ron-johnson-fake-elector-scheme/#:~:text=During%20its%20fourth%20session%2C%20the,would%20make%20Joe%20Biden%20president.
- https://time.com/6306031/trump-georgia-indictment-co-conspirators/
- https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4138124-trumps-fake-electors-7-states-he-lost/#:~:text=In%20seven%20states%20—%20Arizona%2C%20Georgia,%27%20actual%20winner%2C%20President%20Biden.
- https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/04/us/politics/trump-indictment-jack-smith-charges.html