Donald Trump, on the left, and Kenneth Chesebro, on the right, appear in booking photos. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office)
Donald Trump’s super PAC paid the law firm representing one of the former president’s co-defendants in his Georgia racketeering (RICO) and election subversion case, according to a Friday report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The co-defendant in question, attorney Kenneth Chesebro, has pleaded guilty in the wide-ranging RICO matter and received probation in exchange for his testimony in forthcoming proceedings.
The revelation, however, is of unclear importance in the complicated case due to the sheer number of charges and individuals charged with varying schemes.
According to the report, the Save America PAC sent $50,000 to Atlanta-based law firm Chilivis Grubman on Sept. 22, 2023.
That expenditure was listed as a “legal consulting” spending in financial disclosures submitted this week, the paper reports.
Save America is technically known as a “leadership PAC.” It was founded by the 45th president on Nov. 9, 2020 — immediately after he lost that year’s presidential election to Joe Biden.
“A leadership PAC is a political committee that is directly or indirectly established, financed, maintained or controlled by a candidate or an individual holding a federal office.” according to the Federal Election Commission. “The committee is not an authorized committee of the candidate or officeholder, and is not affiliated with an authorized committee of a candidate or officeholder. Members of Congress and other political leaders often establish these nonconnected committees to support candidates for federal and nonfederal offices.”
Chesebro subsequently pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents, a felony, on Oct. 20, 2023. Prosecutors recommended five years probation, community service, and the payment of restitution.
Before his plea deal, the pro-Trump attorney faced time behind bars as he was charged with one count of Georgia’s homegrown RICO act, one count of conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer, two counts of conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writing, and one count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents.
More Law&Crime coverage: Judge in Trump RICO case appears to invoke Monty Python in rejecting co-defendant’s ‘parrot of a motion’
Chesebro was the author of some of the so-called “coup memos” that offered legal opinions on how Trump’s team could overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in a “constitutionally defensible manner.” The DA’s office alleged the attorney was a key part of the effort to have alternate or fake electors deliver Electoral College votes to Trump instead of Biden in several swing states.
Among those also charged in the sprawling, 98-page, 41-count criminal indictment include Trump himself and California attorney John Eastman, who allegedly conceived of the false elector plan in a similarly infamous so-called “coup memo” of his own.
Law&Crime reached out to Chilivis Grubman regarding the Trump PAC payment, but no response was immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.
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