Kenneth Chesebro, ex-attorney to Donald Trump who was charged alongside him in the Georgia election interference case, provided Michigan investigators testimony that could play a role in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, former prosecutor Timothy Heaphy said.
Smith charged Trump with counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights, following Smith’s federal investigation regarding efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The former president has claimed the election was stolen via widespread voter fraud despite a lack of evidence.
Trump maintains his innocence, pleading not guilty to all charges and accusing Smith of targeting him for political purposes.
The investigation focused on the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when Trump supporters violently protested the election results in a failed effort to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory, as well as efforts to submit false slates of pro-Trump electors from swing states to the Electoral College.
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Chesebro was charged in a separate election interference case led by Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis that focused on the false elector scheme and Trump’s call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he asked him to find enough votes to tilt the election in his favor. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case, maintaining his innocence.
Chesebro, however, pleaded guilty and is cooperating with investigators in Georgia and other states. CNN on Thursday reported leaked audio from his testimony before Michigan investigators in which he detailed the false elector scheme.
Heaphy, during an appearance on CNN, outlined how Chesebro’s Michigan testimony could bolster Smith’s investigation.
“My guess is that Chesebro’s information, which is new—he asserted the Fifth Amendment privilege when we interviewed him, the Select Committee interviewed him—will factor into the special counsel’s investigation,” he said. “The fake elector plot is part of the evidence that will be presented by the special counsel that bears directly upon the president’s—former president’s—intent to disrupt the joint session.
He noted that Chesebro was not charged in the federal case and is not known to have spoken with Smith at this point, but predicted he would eventually provide testimony ahead of the trial, which is set to begin in March.
“So whether or not he’s been interviewed at this point, my guess is that he will be and that he has information that will be useful to the special counsel,” he said.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign and Chesebro for comment via email on Friday.
In the audio tapes, Chesebro explained how the campaign planned to get fake Electoral College certificates from Michigan and Wisconsin, both states Biden narrowly won, to D.C., as they were stuck in the mail January 5.
“The general counsel of the Trump campaign is freaked out that [campaign official Mike] Roman reported that the Michigan votes are still in the sorting facility in Michigan, which doesn’t look like they’re gong to get to [then-Vice President Mike] Pence in time,” Chesebro said. “So the general counsel of the campaign was alarmed, and was chartering—they didn’t have to charter a jet, but they did commercial.”
He also said the campaign had to “enlist a U.S. senator” to get the ballots to Pence in time for the certification. Ultimately, however, Pence declined to block Biden’s Electoral College victory, sparking anger from Trump.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.