Special counsel Jack Smith's four-count federal indictment of former President Donald Trump listed, but did not charge, six unnamed "co-conspirators," and media reports are breaking down who those individuals might be.
The six people are not explicitly named, but the indictment includes details that make it possible to identify them from widely shared reports. It's unclear why they were not charged or named, but it does leave open the possibility they will be used by prosecutors to potentially take cooperation agreements to testify in any trial of Trump, according to Axios.
"The defendant enlisted co-conspirators to assist him in his criminal efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election and retain power," the indictment claimed.
"Co-Conspirator 1, an attorney who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies that the defendant's 2020 reelection campaign attorneys would not."
Rudy Giuliani's lawyer Robert J. Costello told The New York Times it "appears that Mayor Giuliani is alleged to be co-conspirator No. 1."
"Co-Conspirator 2, an attorney who devised and attempted to implement a strategy to leverage the vice president's ceremonial role overseeing the certification proceeding to obstruct the certification of the presidential election."
As "Co-Conspirator 1" and "Co-Conspirator 2," lawyers Giuliani and John Eastman are quoted from their remarks at the "Stop the Steal" rally before video showed Ray Epps urging those leaving rally to "go into the Capitol" as Vice President Mike Pence was overseeing a joint session of Congress and receiving a constitutionally signed Electoral College challenge, potentially taking Trump's allegations of election irregularities to debate to the floor of Congress.
"Co-Conspirator 3, an attorney whose unfounded claims of election fraud the defendant privately acknowledged to others sounded 'crazy.' Nonetheless, the defendant embraced and publicly amplified Co-Conspirator 3's disinformation."
The "crazy" quote is now famously from Tucker Carlson's text messages leaked from discovery in a civil lawsuit against Fox News earlier this year, pointing to lawyer Sidney Powell, who filed a lawsuit in Georgia that amplified election fraud claims. Also, the indictment quotes Trump as privately conceding Powell's claims sounded "crazy."
"Co-Conspirator 4, a Justice Department official who worked on civil matters and who, with the defendant, attempted to use the Justice Department to open sham election crime investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud."
Former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark was supportive of Trump's calls for his Justice Department to investigate allegations of election fraud. The House Jan. 6 select committee's panel had Trump officials testify that Clark was a potential candidate to become acting attorney general as acting AG Jeff Rosen was readily rejecting Trump's call for investigations. Clark has denied allegations he was pushing to oust Rosen as acting AG, according to Axios.
"Co-Conspirator 5, an attorney who assisted in devising and attempting to implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding."
This is believed to be lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, according to reports.
Notably, Chesebro has ties to notorious anti-Trump Harvard Professor Lawrence Tribe — who Harvard Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz frequently denounces as a liberal activist legal attack dog in his Newsmax appearances — was an "unpaid" adviser on the electors plan, according to The Washington Post.
Chesebro originated the constitutional and legal precedents for alternate slates of electors, the Post reported, citing his House Jan. 6 testimony.
"Co-Conspirator 6, a political consultant who helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding."
Myriad reports have left this one a mystery, including from The Post, Times, Axios, and The Associated Press.
But the Post reporting mentioned the direct line from Chesebro's electors plan to Trump campaign senior adviser Boris Epshteyn.
"An appellate attorney who had studied under and worked with Harvard Law professor Lawrence Tribe, Chesebro was the first to suggest that slates of pro-Trump electors could organize in states that he lost and be recognized by Congress on Jan. 6," according to the Post. "He first shared the strategy with a friend representing the Trump campaign in Wisconsin before connecting with Eastman, Giuliani and Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn to coordinate across six more swing states."
Chesebro, an unpaid adviser, according to reports, wrote in a Dec. 13 email that the strategy, according to the indictment, "was not to use the fraudulent electors only in the circumstance that the defendant's litigation was successful in one of the targeted states" — despite Giuliani's claims to the contrary.
Instead, Chesebro wrote, "the plan was to falsely present the fraudulent slates as an alternative to the legitimate slates at Congress’s certification proceeding," the indictment added.
On the eve of the state certifications, those close to the Trump campaign, including a senior adviser, raised concerns in a group chat about the fake electors plan, prosecutors say. Informed of what was going on, Trump's deputy campaign manager said the scheme had "morphed into a crazy play."
A senior adviser to the president, who is not identified, texted, "Certifying illegal votes." The campaign officials in the chat refused to sign a statement about the plan, because none could "stand by it," the prosecutors allege.
Notably, in the course of the investigation, Smith subpoenaed documents from Giuliani, Bernard Kerik, Joe DiGenova, Chesebro, Powell, Bill Stepien, Matthew Morgan, and William Olson, it was previously reported.
Information from AP was used to compile this report.
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