Latest news with #KennethChesebro
UPI
2 days ago
- Politics
- UPI
Kenneth Chesebro disbarred in N.Y. over fake electors conviction
A New York State court on Thursday disbarred Kenneth Chesebro over his effort to overturn the 2020 general election. File Photo via Fulton County Sheriff's Office/UPI | License Photo June 27 (UPI) -- Kenneth Chesebro, the alleged architect behind the fake electors scheme to keep Donald Trump in the White House following his 2020 election loss, has been disbarred in New York. A New York State appellate court issued its ruling Thursday. In support of its decision to disbar him, the court pointed to Chesebro's guilty plea in Georgia to a single count of conspiracy to file false documents in the bogus Trump elector scheme. "On that basis alone, respondent's conduct brings into question his integrity and fitness to continue engaging in the practice of law in New York," the court said in its seven-page opinion. It continued that his conduct "undercuts the very notion of our constitutional democracy that he, as an attorney, swore an oath to uphold. Moreover, his cavalier attitude regarding his actions, particularly in the face of his extensive background in the areas of constitutional and election law, largely aggravates his conduct, notwithstanding his lack of disciplinary history." Chesebro was charged in an August 2023 multi-count indictment along with Donald Trump and 17 others for their involvement in a scheme to overturn the state's 2020 election results that showed the New York real state mogul had lost to Joe Biden. The 64-year-old is widely considered the architect of what would become known as the fake electors scheme, which was a strategy to create false slates of pro-Trump electors in seven battleground states that he lost to Biden, including Georgia. In October 2024, Chesebro struck a plea deal with prosecutors in the case, agreeing to plead guilty to a single conspiracy count and a sentence of five years of probation, 100 hours of community service, restitution of $5,000 and a requirement to write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia. Chesebro was suspended from practicing law in New York State in October.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Trump lawyer loses law license in New York
A lawyer who was part of a plot to overturn the results of the 2020 election and keep Donald Trump in power has lost his license to practice in New York. A New York appeals court determined Thursday that Kenneth Chesebro should be disbarred because of his 2023 conviction in Georgia for his role in the effort to subvert the election. Chesebro has admitted to helping craft a bid to send fraudulent pro-Trump electors from six states to Congress in hopes of flipping the outcome of the election. Chesebro's conduct, the panel wrote in its decision, "strike[s] at the heart of the administration of justice,' and undercuts the very notion of our constitutional democracy that he, as an attorney, swore an oath to uphold.' Chesebro had his law license suspended by the appeals court in October 2024. He was admitted to the state bar in 2007. Chesebro, who assisted former Vice President Al Gore's legal team amid the legal fallout of the 2000 presidential election, wrote several memos giving rise to the fake elector plot in the months after Trump's November 2020 loss. Alongside his Georgia guilty plea, Chesebro also cooperated with prosecutors in Arizona and Georgia and is currently charged in connection with the fraudulent elector plot in Wisconsin. 'Moreover, his cavalier attitude regarding his actions, particularly in the face of his extensive background in the areas of constitutional and election law, largely aggravates his conduct,' the panel said. An attorney representing Chesebro did not immediately respond to a request for comment from POLITICO. Several lawyers who assisted in Trump's bid to overturn the 2020 election have faced consequences for their efforts. Chief among them is attorney John Eastman, who lost his law license in California in 2024.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Lawyer Who Pushed Bogus Trump Elector Scheme Is Disbarred in New York
Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer who helped spearhead a brazen legal effort to use phony slates of pro-Trump electors to overturn the 2020 presidential election, was disbarred in New York on Thursday, cementing an indefinite ban issued last year. The decision by a New York State appellate court concluded a strange legal journey for a Harvard-educated lawyer who worked for former Vice President Al Gore during the 2000 presidential election recount in Florida and later evolved into a supporter of President Trump. In a seven-page opinion, the court cited a criminal racketeering case centered on the fake electors in Georgia, where in 2023 Mr. Chesebro pleaded guilty. The New York court said Thursday that Mr. Chesebro's 'criminal conduct — conspiracy to commit filing false documents — is unquestionably serious' and that he had undercut 'the very notion of our constitutional democracy that he, as an attorney, swore an oath to uphold.' Mr. Chesebro, 64, could not immediately be reached for comment, and lawyers who have represented him did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The decision came nearly eight months after Mr. Chesebro was indefinitely barred from practicing law in New York because of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The theory that Mr. Chesebro pushed centered on the certification process carried out on Jan. 6, 2021. He posited that Mike Pence, then the vice president, could count bogus slates of electors for Mr. Trump rather than the real ones from states that backed Joseph R. Biden Jr., or otherwise use the existence of the pro-Trump electors to delay the process. In 2022, before Mr. Chesebro was indicted, he told Talking Points Memo that it was 'the duty of any attorney to leave no stone unturned in examining the legal options that exist in a particular situation.' Other lawyers who supported Mr. Trump's efforts to reverse the 2020 election have also faced consequences. In 2023, Sidney K. Powell and Jenna Ellis, two members of Mr. Trump's legal team after the 2020 election, also pleaded guilty in election-interference cases in Georgia. Ms. Ellis's license to practice law in Colorado was suspended last year. Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who became Mr. Trump's legal browbeater, was barred from practicing in New York and in Washington, D.C. Mr. Chesebro was mentored at Harvard by Laurence H. Tribe, a leading liberal constitutional law scholar. With Mr. Tribe, Mr. Chesebro helped represent Mr. Gore, a Democrat, in the legal battle over the 2000 presidential election recount. Mr. Tribe said Thursday that Mr. Chesebro was particularly skilled at 'coming up with arguments — sometimes too clever.' 'He's one of the few students who seriously disappointed me,' Mr. Tribe said, adding: 'He's a very smart person who learned how to manipulate and abuse the tools that the law gave him. And it was proved now that he can't be trusted to use those tools at all.' Kitty Bennett contributed research.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Ex-Trump lawyer Chesebro disbarred over fake elector scheme
June 26 (Reuters) - A New York appeals court on Thursday disbarred Kenneth Chesebro, a former lawyer for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, following his 2023 guilty plea to a charge stemming from efforts to overturn Trump's defeat in Georgia. Chesebro had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit filing of false documents in Fulton County, Georgia, after prosecutors accused him of crafting the legal strategy behind a scheme to use alternate electors to circumvent Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 victory in the state. New York's Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department found that Chesebro's conduct "undercuts the very notion of our constitutional democracy that he, as an attorney, swore an oath to uphold." The appeals court indefinitely suspended Chesebro's law license in October 2024. Chesebro and one of his attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chesebro has defended his work with the Trump campaign and denied violating New York professional conduct rules. The Third Department's Attorney Grievance Committee, which prosecuted the case against Chesebro, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump and his allies sought to overturn his 2020 defeat to Biden in part by convincing Republican-controlled state legislatures to name their own Trump-friendly electors or refuse to name any electors, according to the congressional committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Chesebro wrote legal memos backing the alternate elector strategy, the committee's final report said. Chesebro is not the only Trump-aligned attorney to face professional consequences for their legal work after the 2020 U.S. election. Rudy Giuliani has been disbarred in both New York and Washington over baseless claims he made alleging the 2020 presidential election was stolen. John Eastman, a former law professor at Chapman University, is facing disbarment in California for drafting legal memos suggesting then-Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to accept electoral votes from several swing states when Congress convened to certify the 2020 vote count. A California judicial panel upheld a disbarment recommendation for Eastman earlier this month.
