Trump Confidante Powell Strikes Plea Deal in Georgia Elections Case
WASHINGTON — Attorney Sidney Powell, a high-profile member of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle and well-known conspiracy theorist, pleaded guilty Thursday morning to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy related to attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
Powell, who was among the loudest proponents of the claim that the presidential election in 2020 was stolen from the former president, had been charged, along with Trump and 17 others, of violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering law.
Her plea to intentionally interfering in election duties came just a day before jury selection was set to start in her trial.
Under the terms of her agreement with prosecutors, Powell was sentenced to six years of probation, fined $6,000, and agreed to pay $2,700 in restitution to the state of Georgia, as well as write an apology letter “to the citizens of the state of Georgia.”
Powell is the second defendant in the case to reach a deal with prosecutors.
In September, bail bondsman Scott Graham Hall, a more obscure defendant in the case, pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges.
He was sentenced to five years of probation and has agreed to testify for the prosecution in future proceedings.
It is unclear whether Powell made a similar agreement to testify against any of her alleged co-conspirators, including the former president.
In addition to initially being charged with racketeering and counts related to the effort to overturn the 2020 election, prosecutors also alleged Powell participated in the unauthorized breach of elections equipment in a rural Georgia county elections office.
Their claim was that Powell conspired with Hall and others to access election equipment without authorization and hired computer forensics firm SullivanStrickler to send a team to Coffee County, in south Georgia, to copy software and data from voting machines and computers there.
She was scheduled to go on trial on Monday with lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, after each filed a demand for a speedy trial. Jury selection was set to start Friday. Chesebro will now go on trial by himself.
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