Donald Trump’s problems in Georgia are stacking up. Four of his 18 codefendants in the state’s election-interference case have already flipped to the prosecution, and more could be on the way. A CNN report Wednesday revealed that Fulton County prosecutors have discussed plea deals with at least six other codefendants charged with participating in Trump’s alleged conspiracy to illegitimately flip the state’s votes in the 2020 presidential election.
Among those who have been offered a plea deal is Robert Cheeley, a lawyer in Georgia who falsely accused Atlanta election workers of inflating ballot counts. But Cheeley’s attorney, Richard Rice, told CNN that his client declined the deal that he said was offered “some time ago,” adding, “To say that we are currently in discussions with the DA’s office would be an inaccurate representation of what is going on.” Cheeley was charged with 10 counts, including for allegedly perjuring himself before a grand jury. (Cheeley has pleaded not guilty.)
The office of Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis, who is overseeing the election-subversion case, has reportedly also discussed plea deals with Misty Hampton, the former Coffee County elections supervisor, and Michael Roman, a former Trump aide. Hampton stands accused of “willfully and unlawfully tampering with electronic ballot markers and tabulating machines,” while Roman was allegedly involved in the Trump campaign’s fake-electors plot. Both face seven counts and—along with Trump and the other codefendants—were charged in August under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. (Both Hampton and Roman have pleaded not guilty.)
Those who have already accepted plea deals include bail bondsman Scott Hall and former Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis. In exchange for their cooperation, these codefendants have not received prison time and have had charges reduced or dismissed.
It remains to be seen whether all of Trump’s codefendants can expect the same treatment. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that Rudy Giuliani has not been offered a plea deal and that prosecutors are unlikely to give him an easy out, considering the scope of his alleged involvement in the election-subversion scheme. Still, the outlet reported that the district attorney is willing to discuss plea deals with any of the defendants—the one exception, of course, being Trump himself.
Georgia is hardly the only state where Trump is facing intense legal heat. In New York, after the ex-president took the stand in Letitia James’s case involving financial fraud at the Trump Organization, the judge ordered Trump to pay a $10,000 fine for violating his gag order and providing testimony that was “not credible.” And in Washington, where Trump is being charged in Jack Smith’s criminal case involving the January 6 insurrection, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows reportedly accepted an immunity deal that could put the ex-president in even more legal jeopardy.
Caleb Ecarma
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