Trump’s Georgia co-defendants, their charges and mug shots

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; three counts of solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer; three counts of false statements and writings; conspiracy to commit impersonation of a public officer; two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree forgery; two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings; and conspiracy to commit filing false documents.

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.

Meadows, Trump’s White House chief of staff in 2020, played a key role in efforts to overturn Trump’s loss in Georgia. In the chaotic weeks after Election Day, Meadows often organized and sat in on Trump’s phone calls with Georgia state officials, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), as Trump pressured them to reverse Biden’s victory in the state. Meadows communicated with Trump allies, including Giuliani, as they pushed election conspiracy theories and plotted ways to keep Trump in office. Meadows took a particular interest in Georgia, making a surprise December 2020 visit to a ballot-counting center outside Atlanta — an incident Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) cited when she sought to subpoena Meadows to appear before the special-purpose grand jury. Meadows unsuccessfully fought his subpoena before appearing before the panel in November.

There was no immediate response when The Washington Post contacted Meadows’s lawyer for comment.

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer; conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer; two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree forgery; two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings; conspiracy to commit filing false documents; filing false documents.

Eastman, a conservative attorney who once clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, played a key role in developing an outlandish legal strategy to try to help Trump stay in power by using the vice president’s ceremonial role overseeing the election certification proceeding. Eastman and Giuliani met with Georgia state senators in December 2020 and urged them to disregard the election results. Eastman told senators that the Republican-controlled legislature could appoint a pro-Trump slate of electors and then the president of the U.S. Senate — at the time, Vice President Mike Pence — could determine whether that slate should be counted in Congress’s certification of the election rather than the Biden electors. He also falsely asserted, without evidence, that Trump lost Georgia in part because 66,000 underage people and 2,500 felons had voted in the state that year. A New Mexico judge ordered Eastman to appear before the investigative grand jury last year.

Eastman attorney Harvey Silverglate called the indictment a “legal cluster-bomb” that Eastman would challenge. “The indictment in Georgia vs. Donald Trump and 18 others sets out activity that is political, but not criminal,” he said in a statement. “It goes hand-in-glove with the recent effort to criminalize lawful political speech and legal advice, in stark violation of constitutional rights to Freedom of Speech, Right to Petition the Government for Redress of Grievances, and the Right to Counsel.”

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer; two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree forgery; two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings; conspiracy to commit filing false documents.

Chesebro, an appellate attorney who studied under and worked with Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe, was the first to suggest that alternate Trump electors could be recognized on Jan. 6, 2021. He first shared the strategy with a friend representing the Trump campaign in Wisconsin before connecting with Eastman, Trump lawyer Boris Epshteyn and Giuliani to coordinate across six more swing states, including Georgia. He was subpoenaed by the special-purpose grand jury and initially argued that his communications with the Trump campaign were protected by attorney-client privilege, although he was never paid for his work.

In October, just as his trial was to begin, Chesebro pleaded guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents in a deal that saw all other charges dropped. He was sentenced to five years of probation and 100 hours of community service and was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution, write an apology letter and testify truthfully at any related future trial.

After Chesebro pleaded guilty, his attorney, Scott Grubman, said the deal “proves that he was not and never was the architect of any sort of fake elector plan or anything like that” and said Chesebro would not have gotten a plea deal with no jail time if prosecutors believed he had been trying to “overturn democracy.”

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud; conspiracy to commit computer theft; conspiracy to commit computer trespass; conspiracy to commit computer invasion of privacy; conspiracy to defraud the state.

Powell, a former federal prosecutor, was one of Trump’s more extreme allies in his efforts to subvert the 2020 election results, voicing a series of baseless conspiracy theories including that voting machines had been rigged for Biden. In Georgia, she alleged Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and Raffensperger, the secretary of state, were taking payoffs as part of that scheme — a claim that unsettled some Trump allies and led to her exit from Trump’s official post-election legal team. Still, Powell kept filing lawsuits alleging fraud across the battleground states, including in Georgia, and she remained in Trump’s orbit. At a White House meeting in December 2020, Trump considered naming Powell as a special counsel to investigate the election — an event that has drawn the scrutiny of Fulton County prosecutors investigating Powell’s efforts to undermine the Georgia vote. A subpoena request for Powell also suggested prosecutors are looking into what role she might have played in an alleged breach of election data in Coffee County, Ga.

On the eve of her trial in October, Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors accusing her of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties. The plea deal she reached required her to serve six years of probation, pay a $6,000 fine, write an apology letter and testify truthfully at any future trials.

An attorney for Powell declined to comment when she was charged.

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.

Ellis was hired by the Trump campaign in November 2019 after making TV news appearances defending Trump and misrepresenting herself as a “constitutional law attorney.” She was part of the Trump legal team that challenged the 2020 election results and spoke with lawmakers in Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia, urging them to reject the popular vote results in their states. She reportedly wrote memos for Trump outlining how Pence could overturn the election results and how parts of the Electoral Count Act were unconstitutional. In March, she was censured by a Colorado judge and signed a legal acknowledgment that “she made a number of public statements about the November 2020 presidential election that were false” and did so with a “reckless state of mind,” mainly in appearances on Fox News. A Colorado judge ordered Ellis to testify before the special-purpose grand jury last year.

In October, Ellis agreed to a deal with prosecutors that saw her plead guilty to a felony charge of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. She agreed to serve three to five years of probation and 100 hours of community service, and to pay $5,000 in restitution to the Georgia secretary of state. She agreed to write a letter of apology and testify truthfully at any future trials.

Ellis did not respond to a request to comment when she was charged, but in a Twitter post wrote, “The Democrats and the Fulton County DA are criminalizing the practice of law. 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.”

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; criminal attempt to create false statements and writings.

Clark was a mid-level Justice Department official friendly to Trump’s views on the election whom Trump considered installing as acting attorney general. Several former senior Justice Department officials testified about a bizarre effort by Clark to volunteer himself and the Justice Department as advocates for Trump’s bogus claims of massive voter fraud during the election. Clark proposed sending a letter to officials in key states, including Georgia, that said the Justice Department had “identified significant concerns” about the vote and that the states should consider sending “a separate slate of electors supporting a” for Congress to approve, according to hearing testimony from the House Jan. 6 committee. Clark’s actions led to a dramatic confrontation at the White House on Jan. 3, 2021, when senior Justice Department officials told Trump they would resign — and many other senior officials would also quit — if the president appointed Clark in place of acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen, who was refusing to legitimize the fraud claims. Clark has denied that he devised a plan to replace his boss, the attorney general, and said all of his communications after the election were lawful.

Rachel Cauley, spokeswoman for the Center for Renewing America, said in a written statement: “Willis is exceeding her powers by inserting herself into the operations of the federal government to go after Jeff. … It’s clear Willis aspires to higher office and is using this witch hunt to climb the political ladder. Jeff Clark was simply doing his job in 2020 and he doesn’t deserve to be subjected to this naked political lawfare[.]”

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; three counts of solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer; three counts of false statements and writings; conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer; two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings; two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree forgery.

Smith is an Atlanta-based lawyer who filed one of the Trump campaign’s election challenges in state court and sent a letter to state officials raising concerns about voter fraud. He also attended the meeting of Trump’s electors in Atlanta on Dec. 14, 2020. During the meeting of the electors, Smith explained that they were meeting and voting purely to preserve their legal remedy should the election challenge succeed in court, according to Smith’s attorney.

A lawyer for Smith did not respond to a request for comment.

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; impersonating a public officer; two counts of first-degree forgery; three counts of false statements and writings; criminal attempt to commit filing false documents.

Shafer is the former chairman of the Republican Party of Georgia who has said that he stepped down from the role in June to focus on what he described as his likely indictment in Atlanta. Shafer helped organize and chaired the meeting of Trump’s electors on Dec. 14, 2020. He also served as an elector and stated during the meeting that the electors were meeting and voting purely to preserve their legal remedy in the event an election challenge prevailed in court.

Shafer declined to comment and his attorney released a statement defending him. “David Shafer is totally innocent of the charges filed against him yesterday in Fulton County Superior Court,” attorney Craig Gillen said in the statement. “His conduct regarding the 2020 Presidential election was lawful, appropriate and specifically authorized by the U.S. Constitution, federal and state law and long standing precedent.”

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; impersonating a public officer; two counts of first-degree forgery; two counts of false statements and writings; criminal attempt to commit filing false documents.

Still, now a state senator in Georgia, was the finance chairman of the state GOP in 2020. He helped organize the meeting of Trump’s electors on Dec. 14, 2020, and served as one of the electors. He allegedly stood at the door of the room in the Georgia Capitol where the group met, admitting electors after checking their IDs and initially barring the public and the media from entering the room.

Still did not return a message asking for comment.

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer; two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree forgery; two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings; conspiracy to commit filing false documents.

Roman helped coordinate the alternate-elector plan with other Trump lawyers and top aides. Roman sent emails about the elector plan that were later published by the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack. He circulated a detailed spreadsheet that kept track of each of the seven states that Biden had won but where he and others on the campaign were urging Trump’s electors to gather and vote on Dec. 14, 2020.

An attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; two counts of criminal attempt to commit influencing witnesses; conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings; influencing witnesses.

A suburban Chicago pastor, Lee was captured on police body-camera video when officers responded to a December 2020 911 call at the home of Ruby Freeman, one of the Fulton County election workers accused by Giuliani and Trump of counting “suitcases” of illegal ballots at a vote-processing site in Atlanta. Freeman called 911 after Lee repeatedly knocked on her door. Confronted in his car, Lee told officers he was “working with some folks to help Ruby out” and “get some truth.” When Freeman refused to talk to him, Lee allegedly sought the help of Harrison Floyd, a former Illinois congressional candidate and former director of Black Voices for Trump, and Trevian Kutti, a former publicist for singer R. Kelly and associate of the rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, to arrange a meeting with Freeman, according to court filings. Prosecutors sought to question Lee as part of their investigation into the harassment of Freeman, her daughter Shaye Moss and other election workers, but Lee successfully challenged his subpoena for the special-purpose grand jury.

Lee’s attorney, David Shestokas, said he would not comment until he has evaluated the indictment.

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings; influencing witnesses.

Also known as Willie Floyd III, Floyd has faced scrutiny from Georgia prosecutors for his role in helping arrange a meeting where Kutti, the former associate of West, allegedly told poll worker Freeman to confess to election fraud or she would go to jail — a meeting partially captured on police body-camera video. Floyd told Reuters that he had been asked for help in arranging the meeting with Freeman by Lee, the suburban Chicago pastor who told police he was trying “to get some truth.” Prosecutors sought to question Floyd before the special-purpose grand jury, but it is unclear whether he ever appeared.

Floyd did not respond to a request for comment.

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; conspiracy to commit solicitation of false statements and writings; influencing witnesses.

Kutti, the former publicist for R. Kelly and associate of West, is under scrutiny for her role in allegedly trying to pressure Freeman to falsely confess to election fraud. According to court filings, Kutti told Freeman in a Jan. 4, 2021, meeting that “an armed squad” of federal officers would approach Freeman and her family within 48 hours and that she was there to offer help by connecting her to “very high-profile people that can make particular things happen … in order to defend yourself and your family.” Kutti allegedly warned Freeman that she was “a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up” and said that if she refused Kutti’s help that her “freedom and the freedom of one or more of your family members” would be disrupted, according to court filings citing police body-camera video. Prosecutors sought Kutti’s testimony as one of their first witnesses before the special-purpose grand jury, but she reportedly did not testify. Kutti has denied any wrongdoing, claiming in an Instagram post that Freeman “told a chaplain she wanted to provide evidence in exchange for immunity for her and her daughter, but didn’t trust a white man to help her.” Freeman has denied seeking immunity and has been repeatedly cleared of the election fraud claims made by Trump and his associates.

Kutti did not respond to a request for comment.

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud; conspiracy to commit computer theft; conspiracy to commit computer trespass; conspiracy to commit computer invasion of privacy; conspiracy to defraud the state.

Hampton, also known as Misty Martin, was Coffee County’s elections supervisor during the 2020 election and its aftermath. She made a video that went viral online soon after the election, claiming to show that voting machines used in her county could be manipulated. Hampton told The Washington Post in May 2022 that she had allowed businessman Scott Hall into her office to hunt for proof of election fraud. Surveillance footage shows that Hampton was at the elections office on Jan. 7, 2021, when computer forensics contractors working with Hall and pro-Trump lawyers copied the county’s election software.

She did not respond to a request for comment.

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; impersonating a public officer; first-degree forgery; false statements and writings; criminal attempt to commit filing false documents; two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud; conspiracy to commit computer theft; conspiracy to commit computer trespass; conspiracy to commit computer invasion of privacy; conspiracy to defraud the state.

Latham was chairwoman of the Coffee County Republican Party in rural Georgia and one of the Trump electors who signed certificates in a bid to keep Trump in power. Records show that Latham was also involved in an effort to provide unauthorized access to election equipment in Coffee County. She spoke on Jan. 6, 2021, with Hall, who helped lead the effort. Surveillance footage shows that the following day, Latham met Hall and computer forensics contractors working for pro-Trump lawyers at Coffee County’s elections office, where the contractors copied the county’s election software. Latham appeared to introduce the contractors to county officials and posed for a selfie with one of them. Latham later denied going into the elections office on Jan. 7 and denied involvement in the copying.

She did not respond to a request for comment.

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud; conspiracy to commit computer theft; conspiracy to commit computer trespass; conspiracy to commit computer invasion of privacy; conspiracy to defraud the state.

Hall, the owner of a bail bonds company, had connections with Trump’s campaign and testified about the election to a Georgia Senate subcommittee on Dec. 3, 2020. A good-governance activist recorded Hall saying in a telephone call that he had arranged for a plane to ferry people to Coffee County and accompanied them as they “went in there and imaged every hard drive of every piece of equipment” and scanned ballots. Surveillance footage confirms he was there. Hall claimed on the call that they obtained necessary permissions from authorities.

In September, Hall became the first defendant to reach a deal with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with the performance of election duties. He was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, write a letter of apology and testify truthfully at future trials.

He did not respond to a request for comment when he was charged.

Charges: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act; conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer; two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree forgery; two counts conspiracy to commit false statements and writings; conspiracy to commit filing false documents; solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer; false statements and writings; perjury.

Cheeley, an attorney in Fulton County, showed videos from the State Farm Arena as he questioned the results of the presidential election when he testified in December 2020 before the Georgia Senate. He represented election skeptics who sought to review ballots and separately served as an attorney for Latham.

Cheeley did not respond to a request for comment.

Jacqueline Alemany, Alice Crites, Josh Dawsey, Spencer S. Hsu, Tom Jackman, Perry Stein, Amy B Wang and Rachel Weiner contributed to this report.