Former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell pleaded guilty in Fulton County Superior Court Thursday to conspiring to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
Powell is the most high-profile defendant among the 19 charged in the case – including Republican former President Donald Trump – to admit to her role in trying to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia over Trump. She pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with the performance of election duties for her role in tampering with election equipment in Coffee County in January 2021.
According to court records, Powell traveled from Fulton County to the city of Douglas to illegally copy election data from a computer. Under the plea agreement, she will pay a $6,000 fine, $2,700 in restitution, write an apology letter, and testify truthfully at future court hearings.
The only defendant to plead guilty so far in the racketeering case is bail bondsman Scott Hall of Atlanta, who admitted his role in the Coffee County incident last month.
The 41-count indictment charges Trump and his co-defendants under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act with participating in a criminal enterprise that tried to convince high-ranking state and federal officials – including then-Vice President Mike Pence – to throw out the Electoral College results in favor of Biden in Georgia and a half dozen other swing states and declare Trump the winner of the electoral votes in those states.
Trump also has been indicted in Washington, D.C., for his alleged role in inspiring the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, in Florida for keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence after leaving office, and in New York on charges of paying hush money to a former porn actress during the 2016 campaign to cover up a sexual relationship.
Besides the Coffee County case, the Georgia indictment accuses three of the defendants of participating as “fake” electors and casting their electoral votes for Trump even though Biden carried the Peach State.
Other defendants – including former Trump lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani – allegedly lied to members of Georgia’s General Assembly at two hearings in December 2020. The charges also involve harassing and intimidating two rank-and-file Fulton County election workers and committing perjury to cover up the conspiracy.
Both Powell and co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro, another former Trump lawyer, were the only defendants in the case to ask for a speedy trial. Powell has avoided a trial with her guilty plea, but Chesebro is still due to go on trial starting Monday.
