Ex-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro disbarred in New York
A panel of judges on the Appellate Division — New York's midlevel appeals court — ruled Thursday that Chesebro's guilty plea in Georgia's probe of efforts to subvert the state's 2020 election results qualifies as a 'serious crime,' a finding that begets disciplinary action.
The panel wrote that Chesebro's guilty plea on one felony count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents is 'unquestionably serious.'
'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 decision reads.
But the former lawyer's conduct went a step further, the panel said, undercutting 'the very notion of our constitutional democracy that he, as an attorney, swore an oath to uphold.'
'Given the testimony and evidence produced at the hearing, we conclude that respondent should be disbarred based on his conviction of a serious crime,' they wrote.
Chesebro pleaded guilty in the Georgia case in 2023 — a plea he's unsuccessfully tried to invalidate — narrowly avoiding becoming the first of dozens of defendants to go to trial over efforts to keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election in the state.
Trump himself faces several criminal charges in the case, which has been on hold since Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's office was booted from prosecuting the case. Her office has appealed that decision.
Chesebro helped craft the so-called 'fake electors' scheme that pushed to certify slates of Trump supporting electors in battleground states instead of the true electoral votes for former President Biden.
He initially faced seven felony counts, including the state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act charge with which all defendants were charged. The allegations against him primarily reflected his efforts to organize the pro-Trump electors.
Alternate electors convened in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin — all states won by Biden that election. The fake electors claimed without basis that they were 'duly elected' electors, and criminal charges have since been filed in several of those states.
Chesebro's New York law license was suspended last fall. He still faces criminal charges in Wisconsin over his role there in the scheme.
Several other Trump lawyers who were charged in connection with the alternate electors plan have faced disciplinary action or disbarment for their roles, as well.
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