Georgia judge rejects Trump campaign lawyer attempt to invalidate guilty plea

The Georgia judge overseeing the state's election interference case against President-elect Trump and several allies on Friday rejected ex-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro's attempt to invalidate his guilty plea in an election interference case.

Chesebro was initially charged alongside Trump and 17 other co-conspirators for his efforts to keep Trump in power after he lost the White House in 2020. The attorney reached a plea deal with prosecutors last year on the eve of his trial, set to be the first defendant to face a jury.

As part of the deal, Chesebro agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents. Prosecutors then dropped the other six charges he faced.

But last week, the former Trump lawyer argued that his guilty plea should be invalidated since, in September, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee struck several charges from the indictment — including the count to which Chesebro pleaded guilty.

On Friday, McAfee denied the request, calling it procedurally defective “in more ways than one.”

"The Defendant has already submitted a plea in response to this indictment — one of guilt," the judge wrote.

McAfee listed off a slew of procedural issues, including that Chesebro did not make the pretrial argument that ultimately led to the charge’s dismissal for other defendants and that his request came too late.

Chesebro’s attorney suggested the request could be considered a “motion in arrest of judgment,” or a challenge to the legality of the court’s judgment. However, McAfee noted that because Chesebro was sentenced under Georgia’s First Offender Act — which “defers further proceedings while the charge remains pending for the duration of the sentence” — there technically was no judgment issued against the ex-Trump lawyer.

“No final judgment occurs,” McAfee wrote. “Therefore there can be no motion in arrest of judgment here.”

Manny Arora, Chesebro’s attorney, told The Hill that he doesn’t “fault” the judge for determining he doesn't have jurisdiction to invalidate the guilty plea using their suggested methods. He acknowledged the procedural roadblocks but noted that McAfee did not dismiss the motion on its merits.

The next step is to file a habeas corpus petition to challenge the legality of Chesebro’s conviction, he said.

“Always remember, Count 15 has been invalidated,” Arora said. “So it's just what is the right legal vehicle to get there.”

After the 2020 election, Chesebro drafted multiple memos detailing strategies for how slates of pro-Trump individuals could falsely claim to be their states’ valid electors. He also faces charges in Wisconsin.

Trump pleaded not guilty in the Georgia case, one of four criminal cases he faced ahead of the election. After Trump was named president-elect, special counsel Jack Smith dismissed both federal cases and his attorneys are seeking to toss his New York conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

The Georgia case is frozen while an appeals court weighs a defense challenge seeking to boot Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) from the case over her relationship with a prosecutor she appointed to oversee it. The court was set to hear arguments in December but cancelled the proceeding after Trump’s election win; it has not been rescheduled.

Updated at 2:44 p.m. EST

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