Ga. indictment says Butler attorney approached in plot to overturn election
Butler County attorney Tom King was approached by an alleged conspirator in former President Donald Trump’s false electors plot, according to a recently unsealed Georgia indictment.
King declined to comment on the case on Tuesday, Aug. 29.
The indictment, released Aug. 14, charges Trump and 18 others with conspiracy to overturn the results of Georgia’s presidential election in 2020.
King, who is general counsel for the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, was approached by defendant Kenneth Chesebro in December 2020, according to the indictment. Chesebro, an attorney, authored a Nov. 18 memo that year recommending an alternative slate of electors to delay election results.
Evidenced as one of the defendants’ acts to promote the conspiracy, the indictment stated that Chesebro sent King an email with attached documents related to the alleged plot.
“The documents were to be used by Trump presidential elector nominees in Pennsylvania for the purpose of casting electoral votes for Donald John Trump on December 14, 2020,” it read, “despite the fact that Donald John Trump lost the November 3, 2020, presidential election in Pennsylvania.”
Similar schemes allegedly were carried out in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Wisconsin.
Trump and the 18 other defendants surrendered late last week at Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. After being processed, Trump was released on a $200,000 bond — but not before making history with the first booking mug shot of a former United States president.
Another 17 of the defendants were also released on bail, with one being held without bond.
In addition to the Georgia indictment, Trump was charged in a federal case Aug. 1 with attempting to overturn the election. The trial has been set for March 4, 2024.
Trump was also federally indicted June 8 for the mishandling of classified documents, obstructing justice and making false statements. The trial has been set for May 20, 2024.
He faces a fourth indictment in the New York hush-money case involving adult actor Stormy Daniels, having been charged with falsifying business records on March 30. The trial is set to begin May 24, 2024.
