CNN
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Kenneth Chesebro, the right-wing lawyer who helped craft the Trump campaign's fake electorate plan, remained in the 2020s after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to texts and emails released Monday as part of the investigation. It was revealed that he had been proposing ways to overturn the 2019 presidential election. Lawsuit.
Documents also reveal that Donald Trump's lawyers claim to have sent a memo on how to run a fake electoral conspiracy across the country to the 'real decision-maker', the White House. .
The new documents were released after Chesebro, a Wisconsin native, and former Trump attorney Jim Tropis settled a lawsuit brought by Wisconsin's true Democratic electors from 2020. These revelations are based on what is known about President Trump's efforts to cling to power. Federal and state election subversion charges. Chesebro pleaded guilty in Georgia and was identified by CNN as one of the unindicted co-conspirators in the federal case. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
A series of emails, texts and photos provide further evidence that Mr. Chesebro urged President Trump to move forward with his electoral plan regardless of whether he wins his lawsuit challenging the election results. This overturns recent testimony to state prosecutors that said fake electors are contingent on winning the case.
Mr. Chesebro's lawyer declined to comment, noting that Mr. Chesebro is representing him in the civil case. CNN has reached out to Chesebro for comment.
Chesebro and his lawyers argued that all of his legal work against the Trump campaign was conducted in good faith and was based primarily on historical precedent from past contested presidential elections.
CNN has also reached out to Tupis' attorney for comment.
As CNN previously reported, Chesebro promoted a more aggressive version of the fake elector conspiracy than he later described in an interview with Michigan investigators from a secret Twitter account.
Chesebro told Troupis in late 2020 that tying Republican electors to ongoing litigation is “not really necessary.” “Even if there were no pending lawsuits on January 6, there could be significant benefits to having electors send alternate ballots on December 14,” Chesebro said in an email. ” he said.
In a Dec. 8, 2020 email to Troupis, Chesebro wrote that there is a possibility that pro-Trump electors could be seated “even if Trump loses all his lawsuits and there are none pending.” I wrote that there is.
Weeks later, as Congress was certifying the election results on January 6, 2021, Chesebro protested outside the Capitol and tailed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, as previously reported by CNN. did. Previously unreleased photos released Monday included a selfie Mr. Chesebro took with Jones near the Capitol. background. He also texted Tropis that he “caught a moment” of tear gas being used against the pro-Trump mob.
After the Jan. 6 massacre, Mr. Chesebro continued to pitch ideas to Tropis about how to overturn the election through long-term litigation, the documents show.
“The events of the past two days have opened legal options to win favorable judgments for Trump in each state,” he told Tropis on January 8, 2021, according to the text chain.
Newly released messages show that Mr. Chesebro wrote a series of memos detailing what pro-Trump electors should do in their states in 2020, including one in which Mr. Troupis directly contacted the White House. It also included a memo from early December that he claimed to have sent.
“Jim, could you please send my December 6th memo to (Trump lawyer) Justin Clark…The message that January 6th is the real date is important,” Chesebro wrote in 2020. I wrote to Torpis on December 7th.
“I sent it to the White House this afternoon. The real decision-makers,” Trupi responded, without specifying who at the White House received the memo.
“I also gave it to Reince so he can talk to the president,” Troupis added, referring to Trump's former chief of staff Reince Priebus, who is also from Wisconsin.
According to past CNN reporting, Mr. Priebus, Mr. Chesebro, Mr. Troupis and other Wisconsin residents attended a meeting with Mr. Trump in the Oval Office weeks after the distribution of the Dec. 6 memo, and Mr. Chesebro He said he briefed Trump on the fake elector plan.
In a Dec. 6, 2020 memo, Chesebro announced plans to release the Republican slate of electors in seven key battleground states that Trump lost, including Wisconsin.
The Trump campaign finally executed his plan on December 14, 2020.
CNN's Caitlin Polantz contributed to this report.
