Chesebro advances adventurous argument on ‘fake elector’ plot – By Jordan Rubin (MSNBC) / Sept 19. 2023
The lawyer facing trial in Georgia mounted a creative argument to try to have his election charges tossed. Maybe a little too creative.
In criminal cases, it’s routine for defendants to raise legal challenges against the charges ahead of any potential trial, to try and weaken the government’s case or, ideally for a defendant, have charges dismissed. In the Georgia election interference prosecution against former President Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants, a recent argument gets points for creativity, at least (and, perhaps, at most).
It came in a motion from Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer who pushed the “fake elector” scheme to create false Electoral College slates in seven states that Trump lost in 2020. He’s set for trial next month alongside MAGA lawyer Sidney Powell.
In a motion to quash, Chesebro essentially argued that the Republican electors in Georgia weren’t fake — or weren’t electors, or something — so, the argument goes, he can’t be charged with conspiring to commit false statements and writings.
