Ex-Trump lawyer Chesebro disbarred over fake elector scheme

By David Thomas

June 26 (Reuters) - A New York appeals court on Thursday disbarred Kenneth Chesebro, a former lawyer for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, following his 2023 guilty plea to a charge stemming from efforts to overturn Trump's defeat in Georgia.

Chesebro had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit filing of false documents in Fulton County, Georgia, after prosecutors accused him of crafting the legal strategy behind a scheme to use alternate electors to circumvent Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 victory in the state.

New York's Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department found that Chesebro's conduct "undercuts the very notion of our constitutional democracy that he, as an attorney, swore an oath to uphold." The appeals court indefinitely suspended Chesebro's law license in October 2024.

Chesebro and one of his attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chesebro has defended his work with the Trump campaign and denied violating New York professional conduct rules.

The Third Department's Attorney Grievance Committee, which prosecuted the case against Chesebro, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump and his allies sought to overturn his 2020 defeat to Biden in part by convincing Republican-controlled state legislatures to name their own Trump-friendly electors or refuse to name any electors, according to the congressional committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Chesebro wrote legal memos backing the alternate elector strategy, the committee's final report said.

Chesebro is not the only Trump-aligned attorney to face professional consequences for their legal work after the 2020 U.S. election. Rudy Giuliani has been disbarred in both New York and Washington over baseless claims he made alleging the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

John Eastman, a former law professor at Chapman University, is facing disbarment in California for drafting legal memos suggesting then-Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to accept electoral votes from several swing states when Congress convened to certify the 2020 vote count. A California judicial panel upheld a disbarment recommendation for Eastman earlier this month.