Donald Trump’s former lawyer Sidney Powell pleaded guilty Thursday in exchange for a reduced sentence in the widespread Georgia election meddling case, a day before jury selection in his trial began.
Under the agreement, Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors that accused him of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties.
In exchange, he received six years of probation, was fined $6,000, ordered to write a letter of apology to the people of Georgia, and must testify in future trials in the case – including potentially against the 77-year-old 45th president.
Powell, 68, is the second of 19 defendants in the case to plead guilty after bail bondsman Scott Hall was indicted last month on five misdemeanor counts. Hall was sentenced to five years’ probation and must also testify in future trials as part of his plea deal.
Brian Rafferty, attorney for Sidney Powell, hands Judge Scott McAfee appeal documents as Powell attends a hearing on October 19, 2023 in Fulton County Court in Atlanta, Georgia.Getty Images
Fulton County prosecutors slapped Powell with seven counts on Aug. 14 for allegedly trying to influence the outcome of the 2020 election in Georgia.
Prosecutors said that Powell conspired with Hall and others to access election equipment without authorization and hired the computer forensics firm SullivanStrickler to send a team to Coffee County, in southern Georgia, to copy software and data from voting machines and computers there.
The indictment says an unnamed person emailed SullivanStrickler’s top executive and instructed him to send all data copied from Dominion Voting System equipment in Coffee County to an unidentified attorney associated with Powell and the Trump campaign.
Sidney Powell has become one of many in an effort to sway the 2020 election. The Washington Post via Getty Images Fani Willis has led a wide-ranging election racket case against Donald Trump and a group of his allies.REUTERS
As part of the plea agreement, Powell will have to pay $2,700 to cover the cost of replacing the equipment.
After the 2020 election, Powell became one of Trump’s key legal allies in his bid to stay in power — vowing to “unleash the Kraken” of evidence of alleged fraud.
He also took part in various meetings and strategy sessions with Trump allies as they planned to overturn the election, including a rally at the White House on Dec. 18, 2020 where prosecutors had expressed interest.
Donald Trump grimaced in front of the camera for an unprecedented photo of a former US president.AP
Powell’s attorney, Barry Coburn, declined to comment on the plea agreement.
Critics have sought to discredit Powell for his behavior. In 2021, the Texas State Bar Disciplinary Commission opened an investigation and requested disciplinary action against him.
However, in February of this year, a Texas judge dismissed the disciplinary case, sparing him from possible dismissal.
Sidney Powell will be forced to apologize to the people of Georgia for his behavior.AP
In May, the Michigan Bar Grievance Commission filed an ethics complaint against Powell. The matter continues.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 13 counts in the Georgia indictment, which was handed up on August 14.
The former president faces a whopping 91 criminal charges in four cases in Georgia, Manhattan, South Florida and Washington.
There are 19 co-defendants in the 2020 Georgia election interference case. FULTON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE/AFP via Getty Images
The trial of another co-defendant in the Fulton County indictment, attorney Kenneth Chesebro, will begin Friday with jury selection.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began her extensive investigation more than two years ago.
The investigation was sparked, in part, by a January 2, 2021 call Trump held with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he emphasized the need to “find, uh, 11,780 votes” to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the state.
With Postal wire
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
