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Four attorneys who were previously associated with former President Donald Trump have pleaded guilty to a variety of offenses since 2018, including involvement in efforts to overturn the last presidential election.
Three of those attorneys—Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis—pleaded guilty to charges arising as part of an indictment brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over alleged attempts to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia.
Trump and 18 others were charged as part of that indictment, and the former president has pleaded not guilty. The former president has also claimed that Powell was not his lawyer.
In a separate case in New York, Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to charges in 2018, testified on Tuesday against his ex-employer and told the court that Trump had asked him to "increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected."
New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused Trump of misrepresenting the value of his assets by hundreds of millions. James is seeking a fine of $250 million and a ban on Trump doing business in New York. The former president has pleaded not guilty.
Newsweek has reached out to the Trump team about the attorneys' pleas. Here is a breakdown:
Michael Cohen
Cohen, who has been described as former President Trump's "fixer," pleaded guilty in 2018 to eight counts, including campaign finance violations and tax fraud. Later, he entered another guilty plea for lying to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
He was sentenced to three years in prison at the federal prison camp in Otisville, New York, but was released and placed under house arrest in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. His sentence officially ended in November 2021.
Cohen has become an outspoken critic of the former president and is seen as a key witness in the civil fraud trial in New York.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in that case, and while on his way to the New York County Supreme Court on Tuesday, the former president called Cohen "a liar trying to get a better deal for himself."
Sidney Powell
Sidney Powell pleaded guilty last Tuesday to six misdemeanor charges related to alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
As part of Powell's plea deal, she will serve six years' probation, pay restitution of $6,000, and she will have to write an apology letter to the people of Georgia. She has also undertaken to testify truthfully against her co-defendants.
Powell had famously promised to "release the Kraken" with a lawsuit she intended to bring challenging the 2020 election.
Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Sunday that "despite the Fake News reports to the contrary, and without even reaching out to ask the Trump Campaign, MS. POWELL WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS."
On November 14, 2020, Trump posted on Twitter (now X) that he was welcoming Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, and two others as "a truly great team, added to our other wonderful lawyers and representatives" to work on "the legal effort to defend OUR RIGHT to FREE and FAIR ELECTIONS."
Kenneth Chesebro
Another Trump attorney, Kenneth Chesebro, also took a plea deal in Georgia on Friday when he pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to file false documents.
Prosecutors in Fulton County had suggested that he serve five years' probation and pay a $5,000 fine. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee agreed and imposed that sentence last week.
Like Powell, Chesebro will also have to testify against other defendants in the case at future trials. He has been considered by some as the ringleader of an alleged "stolen electors" plot in Georgia.
Powell and Chesebro's guilty pleas will protect them from jail time.
Jenna Ellis
On Tuesday, Trump attorney Jenna Ellis entered a guilty plea as part of the Fulton County probe.
She pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings in connection with the indictment brought by Willis.
Ellis has received five years of probation. She must pay $5,500 in restitution and perform 100 hours of community service, as well as write an apology to Georgia residents.
Like Powell and Chesebro, she must also testify against the remaining co-defendants in future legal proceedings. She may be asked to provide the prosecution with more documents and information.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more