by Hugh Jackson, Nevada Current
On Dec. 10, 2020, a few days before they would become Nevada fake electors, Michael McDonald, Jim DeGraffenried, and Jesse Law got an email from an attorney named Kenneth Chesebro.
“Mayor Giuliani and others with the Trump-Pence campaign,” Chesebro wrote, “asked me to reach out to you and the other Nevada electors to run point on the plan to have all Trump-Pence electors in all six contested States meet and transmit their votes to Congress on Monday, December 14.”
In a deal with prosecutors Friday, Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony in the sprawling case alleging Donald Trump and 18 co-conspirators plotted to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, Nevada and five other states.
Originally facing seven charges, Chesebro pled guilty to one – conspiracy to commit filing false documents.
As part of the plea deal, Chesebro has agreed to testify in the ongoing cases in Fulton County Superior Court involving Trump and the plot to subvert the election. He was given a very light sentence – 5 years probation and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.
Chesebro’s guilty plea comes a day after another Trump lawyer, Chesebro’s co-defendant Sidney Powell, similarly flipped on Trump and pleaded guilty in exchange for light sentencing.
In contrast to Trump, who has strived to delay his multiple upcoming trials indefinitely, Chesebro and Powell had requested and been granted a speedy trial, which had been set to start next week. Fulton County prosecutors had summoned DeGraffenried, currently the Nevada State Republican Party’s national committeeman, to testify in the trial.
No trial date has been set for Trump and the other 16 defendants.
Emails and documents submitted as part of the House Select Committee investigating January 6 included several direct communications indicating Chesebro and Nevada’s fake electors knew that sending an alternate presidential electoral certificate to Congress was a violation of state law.
State statutes specify no penalty for violating that law, state lawmakers and Attorney General Aaron Ford contended while a bill to outlaw fake electors in Nevada was presented during this year’s legislative session. The bill ultimately passed, but was vetoed by Gov. Joe Lombardo.
Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: [email protected]. Follow Nevada Current on Facebook and Twitter.
