Pro-Trump Attorneys, Georgia Prosecutors and Judge to Hammer Out Logistics for Their Fast-Approaching RICO Trial

ATLANTA - Georgia prosecutors and attorneys for pro-Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell are set to have an important meeting with a judge Friday morning to hash out how the first trial of the Georgia election racketeering case will play out in less than a month. 

Chesebro and Powell are currently scheduled to be the first of 19 defendants to stand trial in the sweeping 41-count indictment brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis that charges former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants of participating in a racketeering conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia. 

Chesebro is the alleged architect of the so-called “fake” electors scheme, a plan to appoint electors to cast electoral votes for Trump in battleground states such as Georgia where Biden won. Powell, meanwhile, is charged in connection to a breach of voting systems in Coffee County, Georgia, a rural, conservative county where on Jan. 5, 2020, local GOP and elections officials provided unauthorized access to the Dominion voting systems there. Powell is also charged in relation to the intimidation of Fulton County elections workers. Both lawyers have pleaded not guilty.

With a trial date of Oct. 23 fast approaching, a flurry of pretrial motions have hit the docket in the past month, and a number remain pending before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee. The duo unsuccessfully tried to sever their cases from each other, but did succeed in separating their cases from the other 17 defendants. Attorneys for Chesebro were also successful in getting permission from McAfee to question the grand jurors who delivered the indictment, albeit with strict caveats. 

Still unsettled are motions by Chesebro and Powell’s team to quash multiple counts of the indictment, claiming the state RICO charge is “unconstitutionally vague” and fails to connect their acts to the alleged criminal enterprise. Separately on Wednesday night, Powell filed a motion to dismiss charges against her alleging “prosecutorial misconduct” by the district attorney. 

In responses filed Wednesday to the previous motions to negate their charges, Willis' prosecution team said the arguments from Chesebro “egregiously” ignore precedent and that “Powell’s Motion is also characterized by an egregious failure to cite controlling authority.” 

The DA’s office also wrote that, contrary to assertions by Chesebro or Powell’s attorneys, the indictment does demonstrate a pattern of racketeering activity, and their motions to dismiss the case should be “overruled and denied in its entirety.”

“The overt acts (including acts of racketeering activity) committed by the defendants were all designed and intended to further the objective of unlawfully changing the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” Willis’ motion reads.

It adds: “These included the making of false statements and writings, impersonating public officers, forgery, filing false documents, influencing witnesses, computer theft, computer trespass, computer invasion of privacy, conspiracy to defraud the State, and acts involving theft, and perjury.”

In a separate motion filed Wednesday, Willis’ office requested that McAfee issue a protective order over discovery materials in the case to “protect witnesses and safeguard sensitive, private, and confidential information.”

This follows McAfee’s Monday night ruling in favor of the state’s request that juror identities must be protected due to security concerns Willis' team has raised. 

The case management conference — which local legal experts say is likely to cover issues like deadlines for motions, the jury selection process and figuring out the rest of the pre-trial calendar — is set for 9 a.m. EST Friday via Zoom.