Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell pleaded guilty in the Georgia election-interference case on Thursday, mere days before her trial was set to begin.
Powell admitted to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy in committing “intentional interference with performance of election duties” following the 2020 presidential election. Prosecutors agreed to diminish her seven felony counts to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy. She was supposed to join co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro for a criminal trial, scheduled to start Monday, before coming to a guilty-plea agreement.
As part of her plea, Powell will be required to testify at future trials and write an apology letter to the people of Georgia for going along with former president Donald Trump’s claims about election subversion in 2020. She was sentenced to six years of probation, a $6,000 fine, and $2,700 in restitution.
The former Trump attorney is not allowed to withdraw the plea.
Powell is now the second of 19 defendants to plead guilty in the Fulton County, Ga., case. Scott Hall, a bail bondsman, first pleaded guilty last month. The remaining 17 defendants, including Trump, have pleaded not guilty.
Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis indicted Powell on seven charges in August, related to her involvement in Trump’s alleged scheme to overturn the election results in Georgia. All listed defendants in the state indictment were accused of violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law.
Prosecutors alleged Powell played a leading role in the January 2021 breach of an election system in rural Coffee County, Ga., where information from the county’s election system was accessed and copied by Trump associates in a failed effort to prove the election was stolen. Her attorneys argued “she was not the driving force behind” the action.
The indictment stated an unidentified person sent an email to a top SullivanStrickler executive and told said executive to send all data copied from Coffee County’s Dominion Voting Systems equipment to a lawyer associated with Powell and the Trump team.
Additionally, it’s possible prosecutors will compel her to testify about a news conference and a White House meeting that took place shortly after the 2020 election, in which voting results were brought up.
Jury selection will begin Friday for Chesebro’s trial, and it’s unclear whether he will accept a plea deal by then. In the meantime, Fulton County Superior Court judge Scott McAfee will see Chesebro in court, starting early next week.