Kenneth Chesebro, a former lawyer for Donald Trump, has been accused of falsely telling investigators that he did not have a social media presence while running an account that supported the fake electors plot in 2020.
Chesebro, who took a plea deal after being charged in the election interference case Georgia alongside Trump and 18 other defendants, was previously reported to be speaking to prosecutors in at least four other states about the scheme to falsely declare the former president had beaten Joe Biden at the last election in order to avoid further charges.
While cooperating with investigators in Michigan, Chesebro said he never used the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, or had any “alternate IDs.” However, a CNN investigation found that Chesebro was behind an anonymous account, BadgerPundit, which pushed the disputed claim that an alternative group of electors in Republican-controlled legislatures could be put in place to falsely declare Trump the winner of the respective states.
Legal experts have suggested that Chesebro could face further legal jeopardy if he is found to have misled investigators in Michigan even if he spoke under a proffer agreement, in which a person provides information to investigators on an understanding that the statements will not be used against him in future criminal proceedings.
Newsweek reached out to Chesebro’s legal team via email for comment.
Kenneth Chesebro speaks during a hearing on October 20, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia. Chesebro is accused of misleading prosecutors about not having any social media accounts.
Alyssa Pointer/Getty Images
One of the posts from the BadgerPundit account was shared on November 7, 2020, the same day Biden was declared the winner of the last election.
“You don’t get the big picture. Trump doesn’t have to get courts to declare him the winner of the vote,” the post reads. “He just needs to convince Republican legislatures that the election was systematically rigged, but it’s impossible to run it again, so they should appoint electors instead.”
In a statement to CNN, Chesebro’s lawyer confirmed that the BadgerPundit account belonged to the former Trump attorney but was used to express a “random stream of consciousness” where he was “spitballing” theories about the election rather than detail official legal work he provided to the former president.
“When he was doing volunteer work for the campaign, he was very specific and hunkered-down into being the lawyer that he is, and gave specific kinds of legal advice based on things that he thought were legitimate legal challenges, versus BadgerPundit, who is this other guy over there, just being a goof,” Robert Langford told CNN.
Former Pentagon special counsel Ryan Goodman suggested that Chesebro could face further charges if found to have lied to Michigan prosecutors about his social media activity.
“Chesebro appears to have pursued a legally perilous path in his dealings with Michigan authorities,” Goodman told CNN. “The Twitter posts strongly suggest Chesebro committed the crime of making false statements to investigators…his entire cooperation agreement may now fall apart.”
A similar claim was also made by Harvard Law professor emeritus Laurence Tribe.
“When Ken Chesebro surfaced in this mess, at first I felt a bit of pity for the guy. No more,” Tribe posted on X. “Not only did he plot to overturn the Constitution’s transfer of power to the newly elected president, but he’s been lying to pretty much everyone about his role. More indictments await.”
Another Chesebro lawyer, Manny Arora, told CNN that he has since provided “all the information on BadgerPundit” to investigations in each state where Chesebro sat for interviews.
Chesebro has not been charged with any 2020 election-related offenses in Michigan.
He is said to have spoken to Michigan investigators in December 2023, the same month a group of 10 Republicans that was part of a fake elector scheme in the state settled a civil lawsuit filed against them, for which they agreed to cooperate with the Department of Justice on similar cases.
Chesebro pleaded to one felony count of guilty to conspiracy to commit filing false documents in relation to the fake electoral plot in Georgia last October just ahead of his scheduled trial.
As part of the deal to plead guilty to a felony charge, rather than the seven felonies with which he was originally charged, Chesebro agreed to testify against others charged under Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ case, including Trump.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 13 felony counts in the Georgia election interference case. No date has been set for the former president’s trial, with Willis’ office suggesting it could begin on August 5.
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