Citing ongoing probes related to the 2020 election in Arizona, Nevada, and Washington, D.C., former Trump election attorney Kenneth Chesebro on Monday requested changes to his probation conditions in Georgia.
“Currently, as reported in the national media, there are investigations of the ‘election fraud’ cases ongoing in Nevada, Arizona and D.C.,” the filing from Chesebro’s Atlanta-based defense attorney, Manubir Arora, states. “Mr. Chesebro needs to be able to travel to these jurisdictions in order to meet with counsel, etc.”
Originally charged alongside Donald Trump with seven felony counts in the Georgia election-racketeering case, Chesebro pleaded guilty in October to a single count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents. He was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution as part of the plea deal that included an agreement to cooperate with the Fulton County prosecutors as they prepare for trial against the former president and his remaining 14 co-defendants.
A Harvard-educated lawyer, Chesebro is the alleged architect of the “fake” electors scheme to appoint “alternate” pro-Trump electors in battleground states Trump lost, a key part of disrupting the counting and certification of electoral votes in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
The scheme consisted of local GOP operatives, at the direction of Chesebro and others, assembling panels of pro-Trump electors to contest battleground states that Trump lost. Slates of so-called “fake” electors were assembled in Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and New Mexico.
Beyond the Georgia indictment, and the Washington D.C. election-subversion case led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, investigations into the fake electors have also led to criminal charges in Michigan. Investigations are ongoing in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.
“I will have to decline to comment given our office’s ongoing investigation,” Richie Taylor, communications director to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, said in response to questions about Chesebro’s filing Monday.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford signaled earlier this year that he was not pursuing charges against the state’s six “fake” electors, saying that his office had “ascertained that current state statutes did not directly address the conduct in question — to the dismay of some, and I’m sure, to the delight of others.”
However, Ford’s office has reportedly been questioning potential witnesses recently about the actions of the alternate electors. A Ford spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions for this report.
The four-count federal indictment against Trump in Washington, D.C. describes six unindicted co-conspirators, and Chesebro is widely understood to match the description of Co-Conspirator 5. He is not facing any charges in the case brought by Smith.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee earlier this month already approved one change requested by Chesebro to his probation conditions that now allows him to travel between Georgia and his residences in New York City and Puerto Rico.
Monday’s filing from Aroroa, which also needs McAfee’s permission, cited Chesebro’s probation officer who “asked for us to obtain an order to authorize this travel.”