Chesebro, Powell seek to scrutinize evidence in Georgia election case

Lawyers for Trump-aligned attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell will be back in court Thursday for a hearing that will consider a batch of motions in which they are seeking to scrutinize evidence Georgia prosecutors gathered against them.

Chesebro and Powell, who are set to go to trial next month, are both asking to speak to the grand jurors who indicted them for allegations of interfering in the 2020 election to keep former President Trump in power. They are also seeking to unveil the identities of 30 unindicted co-conspirators listed in charging documents. 

Chesebro too is asking to unseal transcripts from the special grand jury, a separate group of Fulton County citizens that did not vote on the indictment but had previously recommended charges in the probe.

The duo’s requests are seemingly aimed at searching for deficiencies in the indictment that could serve as grounds to have the charges dismissed, and to better glean prosecutors’ evidence.

Attorneys for Cheseboro and Powell went before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee last week in an attempt to have their cases severed from the remainder of the defendants, which include Trump. 

McAfee suggested when presiding over that hearing that he would hold weekly hearings for the duo in the lead-up to their trial to handle their various defense motions.

Chesebro and Powell’s cases are proceeding on an expedited timeline after they invoked their right to a speedy trial. They pleaded not guilty, and their joint trial is set to begin Oct. 23.

Though he has not yet made a final ruling, McAfee signaled he is likely to grant Chesebro and Powell’s severance requests, citing deep doubts in the logistics of trying all 19 defendants at the same time, which is a goal of District Attorney Fani Willis (D)

“Knowing that Mr. Chesebro and Ms. Powell are hurtling forward, and the motions are going to keep coming in, I don’t think it makes sense to just have these all pile up,” McAfee said last week. “So we would pretty much maybe just keep having these weekly sessions together and handle them one at a time.”

McAfee suggested he could issue a decision on the separation before Thursday’s hearing, where he will weigh the three motions filed by Chesebro or Powell that focus on the process leading up to the indictment. The duo appear to be searching for missteps by prosecutors that would make the charges invalid.

Chesebro and Powell are first asking to be allowed to speak to the grand jury that voted to charge them last month. Powell joined the motion after Chesebro filed it late last month. 

Their request raises suspicion about whether the grand jurors actually read the full 98-page indictment, noting that the jury appeared to vote after meeting for just one day about the case. 

Chesebro, who said he was not seeking to question the jurors about the content of their deliberations, suggested prosecutors had instead summarized the indictment to jurors in a PowerPoint.

“If the grand jury never reads the indictment; if the grand jury does not even know the details of the indictment; if the grand jury is simply the paradigmatic ‘rubber stamp’ that simply sits in the grand jury room and is provided a summary of the charges, then the grand jury has not performed its function and the defendant will not have received the protection that the Code is designed to provide,” Chesebro’s attorneys wrote in court filings. 

“In other words, why bother with a grand jury if the jurors do not read the indictment and do not review its terms?” the motion continued.

The duo are also seeking to unseal the names of 30 individuals mentioned as co-conspirators in the indictment, who were not charged.

Though not named, many of the co-conspirators’ identities are clear from descriptions contained in the charging documents. But Chesebro’s attorney argued it’s impossible to know what information the state relied on to bring about the case without knowing who the unidentified co-conspirators are.

“Without knowing the identities of the co-conspirators, it will be near impossible to follow what statements or evidence come from the unindicted co-conspirators the State relies on in order to prove the underlying conspiracy,” Chesebro’s attorneys wrote in the motion.

The judge Thursday will also consider a motion by Chesebro to unseal transcripts of the special purpose grand jury proceedings. Powell did not join in that motion.

The special grand jury had recommended charges for 39 individuals in the probe late last year after hearing witnesses and evidence behind closed doors for months.

“Mr. Chesebro anticipates that many of these same people will testify at this trial,” Chesebro’s attorneys said of the witnesses. “Therefore, any recordings, transcripts, and [special purpose grand jury] reports are critical for Mr. Chesebro to obtain in order to properly prepare for trial.”

The jury’s charging recommendations were only made public Friday after the defendants were indicted. Prosecutors’ charging decisions in some instances adopted the recommendations, while in other instances went beyond the jury’s suggestions.

Chesebro’s motion was filed before the recommendations became public. 

The hearing, which begins at 10 a.m. ET, is expected to be livestreamed on the judge’s YouTube channel.