(The Molly McCann Memo) It is alarming (although not surprising) to see the misinformation in headlines, new articles, and on social media about Sidney Powell’s plea in Georgia last week. Even good Republicans and MAGA supporters seem confused and misinformed about the facts of her plea, many believing she has disavowed her position on the 2020 election and betrayed her supporters or that she has “flipped” on Trump.
First, let’s be very clear that Sidney did not plead guilty to a conspiracy with Donald Trump to unlawfully overturn the 2020 election. The RICO charge was dropped as part of Sidney’s plea. To repeat for absolute clarity, Sidney did not plead guilty to a charge that she unlawfully tried to overturn the 2020 election or otherwise “admit” that the claims the 2020 election were stolen were unsubstantiated.
Instead, she pled to six misdemeanors. In this excellent Substack post by TechnoFog, TechnoFog wrote the following about the misdemeanors:
Claims she flipped on Donald Trump are outlandish and without basis. We say that someone has flipped when a defendant agrees to testify/incriminate someone else in exchange for a lighter charge or suggested lighter sentence. But Sidney’s plea agreement is for conduct unrelated to Donald Trump and only tenuously related to even Sidney herself. Simply put: Sidney agreed to take the rap for the disputed access to Fulton County machines.
Second, keep in mind that Sidney’s plea is different from the other pleas. The media has been reporting on each plea as if each co-defendant is caving and pleading to the same serious charges—admitting the fight for election integrity was a fraud and there was a conspiracy with Trump. This is not true.
Although I have not studied Kenneth Chesebro’s plea, it was to a single felony count for conspiracy to file false documents. CNN falsely reported:
That suggests that Chesebro pled to the primary RICO charge, which is not true.
Jenna Ellis today also pled guilty to a felony count, admitting she made false statements to Georgia legislators about election fraud. She gave a tearful statement in which she suggested she had been misled by “lawyers with many more years of experience.” She also said that if she “knew then what [she] know[s] now, [she] would have declined to represent Donald Trump.” I have no idea what Jenna will testify in the future, but it is clear that her felony count is unrelated to the misdemeanors to which Sidney pled, and her statements cannot be attributed to Sidney.
Sidney’s plea was the lightest of these three, and her plea did not require her to disavow her position that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and the American majority.
President Trump obviously understands this, since he posted a very supportive message to his Truth Social account yesterday:
