Trump Like ‘Tony Soprano’ As Former Allies Plead Guilty: Ex-GOP Strategist

A former GOP strategist has said Donald Trump is “nervous” following the guilty pleas of two of his former lawyers and likened him to TV mafia boss.

Lawyer Sidney Powell and fellow attorney Kenneth Chesebro, both co-defendants of Trump in the Georgia election interference case, pleaded guilty this week to a range of charges. On Friday, Powell reached a deal with prosecutors on six misdemeanor charges, with Cheseboro pleading guilty to a single felony count of conspiring to file false documents.

Trump was criminally charged in August for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election result in the state. Other co-defendants include former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, among others. Among all 19 defendants various charges have been made, including forgery and racketeering, and soliciting a public official to violate their oath of office. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.

Matthew Dowd, who has previously chief strategist for George W. Bush’s 2004 presidential campaign, was asked about the effect their guilty pleas could have on Trump’s trial. Appearing on MSNBC’s Ayman on Saturday, Dowd said: “Mafia dons usually don’t like people to flip.”

Their plea deals with Fulton County prosecutors will require them to testify against co-defendants at any upcoming trials, including the former president’s. One of Trump’s biggest concerns could be that Powell is believed to have attended a White House meeting on December 18, 2020, where some of Trump’s most ardent supporters are said to have encouraged him to make her a special counsel to investigate supposed voter fraud.

According to a report by CNN, Powell’s plea documents say she is expected to testify about her alleged direct involvement with breaching election systems in Coffee County, Georgia.

“I think that Donald Trump is like, if you think about this, like Tony Soprano,” Dowd continued. “He is holed up somewhere, and now many of his underlings have flipped and they are about to testify in the case[…]likely against him in the course of this.

“They’ve already admitted to certain fact sets in this that there was [sic] enough facts and evidence—to take a plea bargain in the course of this.”

Chesebro’s plea of guilty on a conspiracy count, involving both the former president and some of his closest allies, could pose a more significant threat to Trump compared to the other cases.

Additionally, Chesebro had substantial correspondence with other pro-Trump lawyers facing charges in the case and played a pivotal role in one of Trump’s primary strategies to remain in office. This strategy involved creating lists of pro-Trump electors in states like Georgia, despite Trump’s actual defeat in those states.

If he testifies, Cheseboro could not only reveal potentially damning details about Trump’s alleged wrongdoing, but he could also tattle on other lawyers like John Eastman and Giuliani.

Dowd said Trump will be anxious about the plea deals as “when he’s got former people that were lawyers, rolling up on [Fulton County District Attorney] Fani Willis’ side on this, he is a nervous, nervous, nervous person, and it is a classic case, in my view, classic case, of when you do these massive conspiracy cases, to get the underlings and under bosses to roll up, it is only pointing in one direction and that’s at Donald Trump.”

Newsweek has contacted Trump’s office for comment via email.