Trump Co-Defendant Powell Pleads Guilty
Sidney Powell, an election lawyer and a co-defendant with former Pres. Donald Trump in the Georgia election conspiracy case, on Thursday became the second co-defendant in the case to plead guilty....
Facts
- Sidney Powell, an election lawyer and a co-defendant with former Pres. Donald Trump in the Georgia election conspiracy case, on Thursday became the second co-defendant in the case to plead guilty.1
- Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit interference with election duties as part of the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.2
- She will serve six years of probation and face a $6k fine in addition to having to pay $2,700 restitution to the state.2
- Powell, whose plea came one day before she and co-defendant Kenneth Chesbro were scheduled to go on trial, has also agreed to testify against Trump and 16 other co-defendants.3
- Powell had initially been charged with racketeering and six other counts related to the plot to keep Trump in power. She was also accused of breaching election equipment in rural Georgia.4
- Last month, Scott Graham Hall, a bail bondsman, was the first defendant in this case to plead guilty. He was sentenced to five years of probation and also agreed to testify against the other defendants.4
Sources: 1USA Today, 2The Guardian, 3Reuters and 4Associated Press.
Narratives
- Anti-Trump, as provided by The New York Times. This is bad news for Trump and his co-defendants. Very few did more to promote the former president’s false theories about fraud in the 2020 election, and yet Powell has now turned on him. She frequently visited the White House and had more interactions with the higher-ups of the Trump administration than any other co-defendant, so she must know damaging information that's in the public's interest.
- Pro-Trump narrative, as provided by Daily Wire. Everyone knows Powell, one of the biggest spreaders of 2020 election conspiracy theories, is detached from reality. Her lies were too much for Trump to believe and he fired her. So now that she’s agreed to testify in return for a lenient sentence, her far-fetched theories will be incredible and ungrounded. Accordingly, the former president has little to fear from any potential outlandish allegations.
