Sidney Powell pleads guilty in Georgia election interference case

Trump-aligned attorney Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts in the 2020 Georgia election interference case after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors, the second defendant in the sprawling case that he did

Powell appeared before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to enter his plea, just days before the trial was set to begin next week.

“How do you plead the six counts of conspiracy to commit willful interference with election duties?” asked Fulton County Prosecutor Daysha Young.

“Guilty,” Powell said.

McAfee accepted Powell’s request and said he could not withdraw it. She was sentenced to six years of probation, a $6,000 fine and $2,700 in restitution. He will also be required to “testify truthfully” in future proceedings and must turn over any documents requested by the district attorney’s office.

Powell also had to submit a “letter of apology” to Georgia residents, which his attorney indicated he had already done.

Powell is the second of 19 co-defendants in the case to plead guilty. The other 17, including Trump, have denied any wrongdoing.

Scott Hall, a bail bondsman who was also charged, he pleaded guilty late last month to five charges of the same charge that Powell did.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) indicted Powell on seven counts in August, accusing her and others of violating the Corrupt Organizations Act statute and Influence Racket from Georgia in entering a months-long conspiracy to try to keep Trump in power after the 2020 election. .

Powell’s other charges in the case relate to his alleged involvement in a voting machine violation at a Coffee County election office. Powell’s attorneys previously insisted he had no role in the Coffee County violation.

Young said Thursday that if the case had gone to trial, the state would have proved Powell entered into a conspiracy to “interfere with the performance of election duties” by co-defendant and county elections director Misty Hampton from Coffee.

“The purpose of the conspiracy was to use Misty Hampton’s position to illegally access secure voting machines in Coffee County, Georgia,” Young said.

Powell was due to go on trial starting next week alongside his Trump-aligned attorney Kenneth Chesebro. Both invoked their speedy trial rights, allowing their cases to move forward on a faster timeline than the other 17, who will be tried later.

His decision to plead guilty means Chesebro will go to trial alone, fulfilling his previously sought goal of separating his trial from Powell and the other defendants.

The guilty plea came after McAfee denied Powell’s various attempts to launch the charge before trial. The first potential jurors in the trial will be summoned to court on Friday.

Once a lawyer for Trump’s campaign, Powell became a powerful stand-in for the former president’s false claims of voter fraud. He earned the nickname “Kraken” after issuing fiery speeches comparing the mythological creature to the alleged fraud.

Updated at 10:22 a.m. ET