The Republican efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election were multifaceted, but among the strikingly partisan tactics was the fake electors scheme: GOP officials and operatives in key states created forged election materials and sent the documents to the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Archivist (among others) as if the materials were legitimate. They were not.
Though the relevant players didn’t know it at the time, the controversy has become one of the most consequential political scandals in a generation, racking up indictment totals unseen since Watergate and Iran-Contra.
The man widely credited as the “architect” of that scheme is still confronting the consequences of his misjudgment. The Hill reported:
Ex-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who helped devise President Trump’s alternate electors strategy in 2020, has been disbarred in New York. A panel of judges on the Appellate Division — New York’s midlevel appeals court — ruled Thursday that Chesebro’s guilty plea in Georgia’s probe of efforts to subvert the state’s 2020 election results qualifies as a ‘serious crime,’ a finding that begets disciplinary action.
The judicial panel didn’t pull any punches, concluding that Chesebro’s guilty plea on one felony count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents was “unquestionably serious” and reflected on his “integrity and fitness to continue engaging in the practice of law in New York.”
They added that the Republican’s misconduct undercut “the very notion of our constitutional democracy that he, as an attorney, swore an oath to uphold.”
It was nearly two years ago when Chesebro, among others, was first indicted in Georgia as part of the Republican effort to overturn the state’s election results. It was those charges that led to a plea deal, which in turn has led to his disbarment in New York.
But this does not bring an end to his saga: Chesebro is still facing criminal charges in Wisconsin as part of his role in implementing the Badger State’s fake electors scheme. Because both the Georgia and Wisconsin cases relate to state charges, a presidential pardon wouldn’t help him. Indeed, it’s worth appreciating the unusual nature of the broader circumstances: Chesebro is still being punished for trying to overturn the results of a free and fair American election, while Trump — who went even further to try to overturn that same election — was rewarded with the presidency. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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