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Former President Donald Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case range from high-powered national political figures to previously obscure county elections officials.
The co-defendants, all of whom have been indicted with at least two criminal offenses, “engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s presidential election result” in late 2020 and early 2021, according to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, a Democrat.
Those indicted are:
Rudolph W. Giuliani
Mr. Giuliani, 79, a former New York City mayor who served as a personal attorney to Mr. Trump, is accused of promoting unsupported allegations of rampant election fraud in Georgia during several legislative hearings in December 2020. Prosecutors also accuse Mr. Giuliani of involvement with the plan for 16 Georgia Republicans to serve as fake presidential electors for Mr. Trump.
On Tuesday, Mr. Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney, said the indictment is “an affront to American Democracy and does permanent, irrevocable harm to our justice system.”
“The real criminals here are the people who have brought this case forward both directly and indirectly,” he said on social media.
Mark Meadows
Mr. Meadows, 64, is a former White House chief of staff and former congressman who co-founded the House Freedom Caucus. The indictment accuses Mr. Meadows of threatening Georgia state officials with false election fraud claims and helping to arrange Mr. Trump’s phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, in which the former president urged Mr. Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” that would enable him to win the state.
The indictment also alleges that Mr. Meadows texted Rep. Scott Perry, Pennsylvania Republican, on Nov. 21, 2020, seeking contact information for GOP leaders of the state legislature because Mr. Trump wanted to “chat” with them. Prosecutors say the text message was “an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.”
John Eastman
Mr. Eastman, 63, is a former dean of Chapman University Law School in Southern California. One of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Mr. Eastman wrote a memo arguing that Mr. Trump could stay in office if then-Vice President Mike Pence rejected the results of the election during the Jan. 6, 2021, joint session of Congress where electoral votes would be counted.
The plan relied partly on slates of “alternate” Trump electors in seven battleground states, including Georgia, who would falsely certify that Mr. Trump had won their states.
Jeffrey Clark
Mr. Clark, 56, is former acting U.S. assistant attorney general for the civil division in the Trump administration. He drafted a letter in December 2020 stating that the Justice Department had “significant concerns” about fraud that may have affected the outcome of the election in Georgia and other states, even though Attorney General William Barr had said there were no concerns of significant election fraud. The letter was not sent.
A spokesperson for the Center for Renewing America, the conservative think tank where Mr. Clark is a fellow, said in a statement that “Jeff Clark was simply doing his job in 2020 and he doesn’t deserve to be subjected to this naked political lawfare.”
Sidney Powell
Ms. Powell, 68, is a lawyer and former prosecutor who worked with the Trump campaign in late 2020. The indictment cites a Nov. 19, 2020, news conference at Republican National Committee offices in which Ms. Powell, Mr. Giuliani and lawyer Jenna Ellis discussed election fraud conspiracy theories related to Mr. Biden’s election.
The indictment also contends that Ms. Powell entered into a written agreement for the firm SullivanStrickler LLC to perform forensic collections and analysis on Dominion Voting Systems and breach the company’s voting machines in rural Coffee County, Georgia.
Jenna Ellis
Ms. Ellis, 38, is a lawyer connected with the Trump campaign. The indictment states in part that Ms. Ellis wrote at least two legal memos to Mr. Trump and his attorneys advising that Mr. Pence should “disregard certified electoral college votes from Georgia and other purportedly ‘contested’ states’” when Congress met to certify the election on Jan. 6, 2021.
“The Democrats and the Fulton County DA are criminalizing the practice of law,” Ms. Ellis posted Tuesday on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. “I am resolved to trust the Lord and I will simply continue to honor, praise, and serve Him. I deeply appreciate all of my friends who have reached out offering encouragement and support.”
David Shafer
Mr. Shafer, 58, is a former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party and a former state senator. He allegedly organized the meeting of 16 Georgia Republicans at the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate declaring falsely that Mr. Trump had won the state and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican and a Trump ally, has called Mr. Shafer and the other Trump electors “patriots who did their legal duty pursuant to established legal precedent and the plain language of federal and Georgia law.”
Michael Roman
Mr. Roman, 51, is a former Trump White House aide who served as the campaign’s director of election day operations. The indictment states that Mr. Roman was involved in the efforts to put forth a set of fake electors after the 2020 election.
A Republican activist from Philadelphia, Mr. Roman also was an aide to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Mr. Roman in 2008 first publicized “the presence of two members of the New Black Panther Party — one carrying a billy club — outside of a Philadelphia polling site.”
Kenneth Chesebro
Mr. Chesebro, 62, is a Trump campaign attorney who worked with the leaders of the Georgia GOP to coordinate the slate of “alternate” Republican electors. He allegedly helped to coordinate and execute the plan to have the 16 Georgia Republicans sign a certificate declaring falsely that Mr. Trump won and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.
Robert Cheeley
Mr. Cheeley is a founding member of the Cheeley Law Group in Alpharetta, Georgia. The indictment states that Mr. Cheeley, at the time a lawyer for the Trump campaign, presented video clips to legislators of election workers at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta and alleged the workers were counting votes twice or sometimes three times. Prosecutors say Mr. Cheeley knew those statements were false.
Ray Smith III
Mr. Smith is an Atlanta lawyer from the firm Smith & Liss. The indictment states that he advised the alternate GOP electors who met at the state Capitol, cast votes for Mr. Trump and signed documents falsely claiming that Mr. Trump won the election in Georgia.
Shawn Still
Mr. Still is a Republican state senator in Georgia. He served as one of the 16 alternate Republican electors who signed documents falsely claiming Mr. Trump won. He also sued to decertify Georgia’s presidential election results based on allegations there were problems with voting equipment in Coffee County.
Stephen C. Lee
Mr. Lee, 70, is a police chaplain and pastor at Living Word Lutheran Church in Orland Park, Illinois. He was allegedly at the center of an effort to intimidate Fulton County poll worker Ruby Freeman, making an unannounced visit to her home in Cobb County, Georgia, in December 2020 and prompting her to call 911 three times. Trump supporters had accused Ms. Freeman of engaging in election fraud.
Harrison W.P. Floyd
Mr. Floyd is the director of Black Voices for Trump. The indictment says Mr. Floyd, a former congressional candidate in suburban Atlanta, recruited Mr. Lee to set up a meeting with Ms. Freeman and Chicago-based publicist Trevian Kutti.
Trevian C. Kutti
Ms. Kutti is the Chicago-based publicist who allegedly claimed to have high-level connections in law enforcement. Prosecutors say Ms. Kutti, a former publicist for rapper Kanye West and R. Kelly, visited Ms. Freeman’s home, told her that she was a crisis manager and urged Ms. Freeman to confess to committing election fraud or risk being arrested.
Cathy Latham
Ms. Latham is one of the 16 Georgia GOP electors for Mr. Trump. She was also chair of the Coffee County Republican Party and welcomed a computer forensics team that arrived on Jan. 7, 2021, to copy software and data from the county’s election equipment in what the secretary of state’s office has said was “unauthorized access” to the machines.
Scott G. Hall
Mr. Hall is an Atlanta-based bail bondsman. He was allegedly involved in gathering voting information that was the property of Dominion Voting Systems from Coffee County.
Misty Hampton
Ms. Hampton is the elections director in Coffee County, Georgia. The indictment states that Ms. Hampton was present in the county elections office on Jan. 7, 2021, when a computer forensics team copied software and data from the county’s election equipment. She was chair of the county GOP at the time.
She also allegedly allowed two other men who had been active in efforts to question the 2020 election results to access the elections office later that month and to spend hours inside with the equipment.
• This article is based in part on wire-service reports.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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