scott hall pleads guilty, implicates sidney powell, sidney powell pleads guilty and it is pretty surprising that only because these things happen a lot of times at the 11th hour, as barb knows, as a prosecutor, what is fascinating is that less than 48 hours ago, her lawyer is fighting in court tooth and nail to make sure that, you know, her case gets dismissed, et cetera. the thing about sidney powell that people need to remember is this. six years of probation sounds pretty lax considering your attempt to overturn an election, right? but she was the lawyer for donald trump. she was the lawyer for the trump campaign. donald trump notoriously does not use text or emails, doesn't use thi writing. so it is the communications between her and donald trump that are really kind of working your way up proverbial food chain when it comes to flipping lower level defendants and tryi get to the king at the top, which everybody would concede is donald trump. so sidney powell, we skipped a few rungs on that ladder. we skipped some significant rungs to get a guilty plea from her and that special condition

and now, sidney powell was at the december -- what meeting?> december 18th. >> talk to me about who was there, because that is a source of the drama of what happened before january 6th. >> i don't want to list everybody off of the top of my head, because i might misspeak one of the heads, but it is the people central to the white house, and i believe that there were people quite high up both in the white house and in the legal world around donald trump and there was shouting at that meeting about what to do that people like sidney powell were trying to get one-on-one time with donald trump, and did, and i believe that mark meadows was also a person in the room and seeing it play out, and all of that is important in the federal investigation. and how all of these people were very close to trump, himself, and having conversations with him. and elie is talking about the federal investigators of how she was willing to plea guilty in georgia, and it is quite possible to talk to her about the one-on-one conversations with donald trump, the defendant

it was a cost benefit analysis for sidney powell.hese are some of the, you know, most serious charges that any of these defendants were facing because it involves computer trespass. so when she was looking at seven felonies and possible prison time, i think that she just made a calculation this is what she should have done. >> neil, trump seems confident powell's testimony will be favorable to my overall defense strategies. if trump is on record saying sidney powell sounded crazy does that in any way diminish her utility as a witness? >> no, i think she's going to be a devastating witness. first of all, i think this is legally the smartest decision sidney powell has made in her entire career. for once i've got to commend her for making the right legal choice because it was a no-brainer for her. if the case had gone to trial, i think it might have gone about as well as her challenges to the 2020 election. in a way i to think i disagree a little bit with anna. i do think this is still surprising because no brainers are exactly what sid

now you have sidney powell, but sidney powell is definitely not one of those low rung coconspirators. she's the president's lawyer. she's donald trump's lawyer. she's the trump campaign's lawyer. so not only does she have to provide truthful testimony. she has to turn over documents. those documents are 100% going to implicate donald trump as well as jenna ellis who was standing behind her in that presser, rudy giuliani, remember, these are all codefendants that have been charged with rico, so under georgia state rico law, you don't have to all be planning it all together. somebody could be doing something in one area of the state of georgia or another part of the country and you can be found guilty of rico. >> barb, let's get into this. i have my handy danda copy hof the indictment, with ali velshi writing the foreword of it. i'm going now to act 145 through 147 in which sidney powell is mentioned. she's mentioned in unlawful possession of ballots from coffee county. she's mentioned in unlawful computer trespass, also coffee county. and computer theft, also coffee county. so it looks

remember, sidney powell had invoked her right to a speedy trial.ow morning we were going to see an extraordinary spectacle of 450 perspective jurors walking into the fulton county courthouse into a courtroom to begin this long process of seating a jury to begin the trial likely in early november. so that is no longer going to happen, at least when it comes to sidney powell. now, of course the big question in all of this is ken chesebro, what happens there. we've reached out to his attorney, one of his legal counsel scott grubman to see if he had any comment on what this means for them tomorrow. he doesn't have any comment right now because he's still trying to process all of this. certainly when you look at the timing of this, it's very stunning. she's not the first person in this kind of sprawling indictment to plead guilty. er, that was scott hall a couple of weeks ago, but it rtaiy is a higher profile person than scott powell. the name sidney powell is a name of someone who is familiar to our viewers, when we talk about the role as the former pr

>> sidney katherine powell. >> are you the sidney katherine powell named in accusation --? >> i am. >> and are you currently taking any medication or under the influence of any drugs or alcohol at this time? >> no, i'm not. >> how old are you, ma'am? >> oh, gosh. 68 despite my astonishingly youthful countenance. >> what is the highest level of education you have completed? >> i have a juris doctorate degree. >> are you able to read, write, and understand the legal language? >> yes. >> yes, yes, yes, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and the reference to the juris dock rat degree that is in doubt tonight. nothing but the truth. that is what's required of you in a court of law. nothing but the truth is ultimately required if you say you will be cooperating. nothing but the truth about everything you did and everything your client did -- with some possible exceptions regarding legally acknowledged privilege but not if it were a crime. so nothing but the truth. who does the truth scare tonight? and why is sidney powell deciding at this late date, days out from for tria

it was going to be both he and sidney powell, now just him. so that's probably something that he's very likely considering weighing on him this morning as the jury selection is going to be beginning. does he want to be the only person to go to trial on these 2020 election massive conspiracy case against donald trump and others first, or does he want to do something that could potentially reduce the prison time he faces, what choice does he have? there's a lot of factors going into it. >> we're seeing a live picture here into the courtroom in fulton county, georgia, and we're going to -- we're listening in for updates as -- well, it looks like the judge left the chair. i thought i saw him there a second ago. we will continue to track this. elie, as we're watching this, if donald trump's legal team, if ken chesbro takes a plea deal, how does that change what they would potentially know about the case that they would need to be putting on and what have they been lost if this plea deal -- if he accepts a plea deal and there's no more early trial?

>> tell me any time you spoke with sidney powell, and any meeting that you were with sidney powell, because now the prosecutors have all of that, and you have to be prepare to cross-examine her, and there is a standard line that every defense attorney will use to cross-examine her, and you are telling the prosecutors what you want to hear, and the prosecutors are used to that, and the main thing as a prosecutor, did this person have access, and clearly she did have access to the key meetings that you talked about and do we believe her testimony now, and had she come clean, and can we back her up, and clearly the fulton county d.a. has answered yes, and jack smith is going to say yes, and now she is a crucial witness, and this trial, and perhaps multiple trials. >> the breaking news is that sidney powell has plead guilty in the fulton county case, and will serve as a witness in the investigations and the prosecutions of others. >> i would say maybe rudy giuliani is the only other person that it would be so significant to essentially cooperate at trial. >> it is a sprawling case, and we will

they are continuing to sue sidney powell herself for $1.3 billion.s been unsuccessful in trying to dismiss. and discovery is ongoing in that case, and that as sidney powell told the court about two weeks ago sort of puts her in an untenable position. she has to choose between the invocation of her fifth amendment rights if she had gone to her criminal trial and what it would mean to invoke the rights, and a civil proceeding where a jury can draw adverse inferences or she could have been sanctioned for not participating in discovery. given what's at stake financially, that intersection was probably not one that sidney powell could have abided, especially with the ongoing risk. >> i don't love the idea of being sued for $1.3 billion, personally. lisa, ken chesebro has his trial set for monday, october 23rd. that's monday. does this mean that sidney powell testifies against him? >> i don't think so. i mean, there's a possibility that sidney powell testifies with respect to the broader conspiracy. but when you think about the allegations against sidney p

the question now is what will sidney powell say atal? will she implicate in that sweeping election case against former president donald trump and his 18 co-defendants. today powell, again, trump's former attorney pleaded guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors. >> how do you plead to the six counts of conspiracy to commit intentional interference with performance of election dutys? >> guilty. >> do you understand that you may have a limited right to appeal, which i've gone over with you? >> yes. >> joining me now, nbc's ken dilanian, nbc's blayne alexander, and former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst, carol lam. thanks for all of you being here. ken, what more do we know about this deal? >> as you heard there, chris, she pled guilty to six misdemeanor counts, much reduced from the felony racketeering charges that she was facing and the sentence that's called for here in this plea agreement is six years of probation, a $6,000 fine, restitution of $2,700, and a letter of apology to the citizens of georgia and most importantly,

well, sidney powell suddenly pleading guilty today, now agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. so, what does this mean for trump? here's aaron katersky. >> sidney catherine powell. >> reporter: she was at the center of donald trump's effort to overturn his 2020 loss, publically pushing outlandish claims of election fraud and privately meeting with the former president inside the white house. but tonight, just one day before her trial was set to begin, sidney powell pleading guilty, agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. >> ms. powell, do you understand the charges that are against you here today? >> i do. >> reporter: powell spread the false conspiracy theory georgia election machines were controlled by venezuela, even pointing a finger at the country's former dictator hugo chavez, who is dead. >> this was exported from venezuela by maduro and by mr. chavez. this is the consummate foreign interference in our election. >> reporter: in an oval office meeting on december 18th, powell allegedly suggesting trump name her special counsel to investigate election fraud. in that same m

sidney powell might be flipping on the don.t remember sidney powell, she was trump's craziest lawyer, which is amazing, considering that trump's other lawyers included this guy and this guy. being trump's craziest lawyer is like being the most divorced dad at an embassy suites. embassy suites, not an embassy, and definitely not sweet. now, under this plea deal, powell will avoid prison time, but she will have to pay a $9,000 fine and write an apology letter to the citizens of georgia. >> ronny: i mean, just a letter. this woman actively tried to steal an election. the least she could do is apologize door to door like a sex offender. >> michael: hi, i am sidney powell. good point, ronny. at the very least, she should write a letter to mike pence for art getting him hanged. obviously, he will not read it because he considers receiving a letter from a woman to be a form of sex. >> ronny: kosta, i got to say, sidney powell, sounds like a pretty great lawyer, to be honest. she got trees and down to apology letter. like, that is an a

>> any way you slice it, it is bad news that sidney powell has split and kenneth chesebro has split, and it is what the prosecution wants and how the prosecution builds cases, but the big question is they fully in as cooperators and we know that she going to say, well, we accessed this information in coffey county. >> would you make a agreement with them if they weren't? >> well, a lenient deal with a witness who is not helpful, yes, i have done it many time, but the second part is important, because if they are not fully in, absolutely not. as a prosecutor, and now, talking about the georgia prosecutors, and we will have to wait and see what the doj does, but you have to give ul everything that you know. and remember, that fani willis charged sidney powell with rico, and not the plea to rico, but plead to all of the lower level, and is she all of the way in. >> and you have to listen to podcast, because he talks about how tough he is, because you really have to come clean in elie honig's world. and now, i want to talk about this billionaire in mar-a-lago, and a new reporting in "the

i saw sidney powell sitting there.as not happy to see the people in the oval office. >> i was asking if i could -- the democrats were working with hugo chavez, venezuelans and whoever else, and at one point general flynn took out a diagram that supposedly showed all over the world. >> i mean, at times there were people shouting at each other throwing insults at each other. it wasn't just sort of people sitting around on the couch like chitchatting. >> cipollone and herschmann and whoever the other gal was showed nothing but contempt and disdain of the president. >> what response did you get when you asked ms. powell and her colleagues? >> a variety of responses based on my current recollection including, you know, i can't believe you would say something like -- you know, things like this. what do you mean where is the evidence, you should know. >> and then there was the discussion of we don't have it now but we will have it or whatever. >> if it had been me sitting in the chair, i would have fired them all night. >> bo

and in georgia where his former attorney sidney powell says there's proof she had nothing to do with breaching local elections equipment, accusing prosecutors of holding back information this whole time. but there's yet another twist, and witnesses in oregon say they literally could not believe what they were seeing, a small plane making a deadly plunge into a home packed with people. we'll explain what happened later in the show. >>> but we begin with congress at a crossroads, testing the notion of whether a government created for and by the american people is truly up to the task, with the speakership vacant and no clear path forward, the basic functioning of government is now in question, whether we can pay our bills, avoid a government shutdown and support our allies and democracy. most pressingly right now in ukraine. nbc is reporting that aid for that country is in serious jeopardy due to what our jonathan allen calls the political annihilation of kevin now, the answers to all those questions hinge on whichf these seven candidates chosen as the next speaker, and this is what we

who trump is now claiming was never actually his lawyer despite the fact that he said at the time sidneys his lawyer for more on this, it's time for "a closer look." [ cheers and applause ♪ >> seth: as horrifying as it may be, the reality is that donald trump is currently the far and away front-runner for the gop nomination for president in 2024. what does far and away mean? well, he's ahead by roughly 21 points in the current 538 polling average against every other candidate combined if you voltroned the gop field into one super candidate, it would not be within shouting distance of donald trump, a man with the largest shouting radius in america what's that? if you voltron the gop field, what body parts would you take from each candidate? it's obvious mike pence's i'm concerned but i'm not going to do anything face ron desantis's pudding scooping fingers. [ laughter ] and doug burgum's glass eye. did you know doug burgum has a glass eye? he doesn't but i didn't know anything about him so i made it up. before today, i didn't know he was the governor of south dakota, which is okay because

means that sidney powell, if the prosecutors want to put her on the stand in front of a jury as they have another defendant on trial potentially even donald trump himself they can call her and she will have to testify about the things that she's admitting to as part of this guilty plea and potentially other things they may ask her about. step back, boris, big picture is that sidney powell is someone who knew about that coffey county georgia voter data breach, but also she was around donald trump and around people like rudy giuliani, mark meadows in a free-wheeling, chaotic screaming match of a meeting in mid-december at the white house that at the end of the meeting, as she and others were trying to convince donald trump to keep pushing lies of election fraud he is infamous tweet, "will be wild on january 6th." what she has to do and provide remains to be seen and interest by federal investigators, we'll be watching. >> thanks for the update. >>> a very contentious heated meeting among house republicans ended and still no sign what will happen next with jim jordan the bid for speaker

it's possible that sidney powell and kenneth cheseboro, they did crack.hey will cooperate with prosecutors but it may not be a full-on flip. they may go into the rest of the case and perhaps not provide as much information as the prosecutors might like. how does that grab you? is that possible that they could get away with something like that? or do you think they are cooperating? >> good evening, jim. the language of the plea agreement says that they will testify truthfully. not cooperate fully. there is a real difference there. to get these plea deals, both had to do a video proffer. sidney powell got an extraordinary deal to plead guilty to misdemeanors. even six misdemeanors. that's still an extraordinary deal when you are facing felony rico charges. she had to submit the video proffer prior to the prosecution offering her that plea agreement. i think what she had to say in that video proffer, she can't back down from. it's going to be pretty potent. i think that's the reason why she got the misdemeanor deal. so they may not be embracing the deals wit

sidney powell is extraordinarily notable here because she's a top lawyer around donald trump. she was in the upper echelon who was even in the white house talking to donald trump one-on-one in some of the crucial days after the election as she and others were trying to sow misinformation. the immediate impact here of this guilty plea by sidney powell is that she's admitting she was guilty in doing some of the things she was accused of doing. the second immediate impact here is that she's not going to trial. she was supposed to go to trial friday. now it's just one other defendant in this massive case set to have jury selection begin friday. then the big picture. she is agreeing to testify against others in this case at future trial or trials, that includes very likely donald trump in georgia where he is set to go to trial at a later date after this first round of trial was set to start. then, also, she's a person that doesn't know about just georgia. she's also privy to so much happening in the white house, including the december 18th meeting where she and others were trying t

>> in this group, it is primarily sidney powell. because the testimony that he has is that rudy giuliani and his whole team, they were pursuing leads. they were hampered by lack of time. a lack of resources and so that prevented them from being able to chase everything down completely. it certainly did lead to certain inaccuracies. but when they talk about people putting out knowingly false claims, kerik and others will point right over at sidney powell and say, hey, what they're accusing us of, she did. and then he's going to be able to testify about that is why she was fired. that is why president trump told her she wasn't allowed back in the white house. it is actually in a weird way very ex cul pattory to rudy giuliani to say yeah, there was somebody doing something wrong, sidney powell and that is why we got rid of her. so i do think it is problematic for her, but it ex pull pates rudy giuliani and trump. >> why were her crazy comments different from anybody else's. >> because she had been pushing things that had already been f

i actually would love to see a sitcom about sidney powell and a kraken living together, like "the odd or "perfect strangers. they could call it "kraken up! [ laughter ] well, today powell pled guilty in the case and agreed to testify against any of her codefendants, which would, of course, include donald trump >> sidney powell was one of donald trump's fiercest defenders going back to spinning conspiracy theories after the 2020 election. she's now pleaded guilty to six charges related to election subversion >> as part of this plea deal, she his agreed that she will testify in any future trials, which raises the possibility she could testify against trump in the future >> so in exchange, sidney powell agreeing to testify in all future hearings and also hand over documents and evidence related to this case, obviously given her proximity to donald trump during the -- or after the 2020 election, that could be pivotal >> seth: that's amazing. she's going to turn over documents and cooperate with the prosecution. although how much cooperation can a person that insane really provide? what's

ken chesebro and sidney powell. this is remarkable. what do you think turned them and what is your reaction? . good morning, amara. it's certainly a significant development. the reaction is certainly it's something ta's compelling for the prosecution. i think what turned them are a number of things. number one, the prospect of facing significant time in jail, number two, the prospect of facing evidence, which is certainly contrary to your narrative as we look at miss powell and mr. chesebro. i think at the end of the day with the overwhelming evidence and the evidence submitted to the court saying it should be dismissed and the judge saying no, i think it was time, and if you're a defendant in this case, that's really the only out you would have. looking forward is what this means to the president himself. >> so just to refresh their roles in the georgia election. chesebro played a major role in the georgia election scheme. sidney powell assumed her role in coffee county, georgia. i guess they accessed and copied information from the e

a judge is hearing arguments from sidney powell's legal team that charges against her in the d.a.'. they say there's evidence that there are e-mails, witness testimony that powell actually had nothing to do with coffee county. i want to bring in nbc's blayne alexander from outside the courthouse in atlanta. i know your producer charlie is inside that room. i'm sure you guys are communicating nonstop. if you need to look at your phone, no problem, but what do we know right now? >> reporter: constant texts, you're absolutely right. what we know is we're hearing from powell's attorney, brian rafferty who is giving exactly what you said, that there is evidence in the form of e-mails, in the form of witness testimony that he says basically clears his client's name, proves she has nothing to do with the data breach in coffee county. he is even saying that the state has evidence that someone else signed her name but they went forward and charged her anyway, indicted her anyway. here's a little bit of what he said so far in this courtroom. take a look. >> as i've always said is ms. powell

jenna ellis, sidney powell, and rudy giuliani.he presented herself as a constitutional scholar, which is how she would get booked on fox and other right-wing media, presenting herself as an expert. can she now claim to be essentially someone who was duped? >> well, i suppose anyone can claim that. my guess is in the recorded proffer that she provided to prosecutors, she provided a more fulsome admission of her own guilt and information that she can share with the prosecution team and to testify to at a trial. she got a good deal. she's pleading guilty to a felony, but no prison time, and so i imagine that prosecutors first listened to that proffered testimony and then assessed its value before allowing her to plead guilty to this deal. so i imagine that she has information about rudy giuliani, maybe others on the team. and one thing that make her a little different from sidney powell, who trump himself referred to as, quote, crazy, you know, jenna ellis doesn't have that same baggage. she might be a more perhaps less well known, b

then sidney powell takes the plea deal. she pleaded guilty to solely misdemeanors.and he pleaded to a felony. so to me, this says that the longer you wait, the deal doesn't get better. it actually gets worse, right? so for everyone looking down the line, the first person to plea, they got the best deals. they got misdemeanors. >> yes and no, joy. as melissa probably knows well, georgia has a version of what's called a first offender act. that allows someone to plead guilty to a felony, but then essentially never have that felony entered on their record, provided that they comply with all of the conditions of their probation sentence. so if ken chesebro behaves himself, at the end of the three years of probation he's expected to get, it will be as if he never had any felony conviction at all. and that was critical for his legal team. why? because ken chesebro is a lawyer, and in most jurisdictions where you're licensed to practice law, if you're convicted of a felony, that license immediately evaporates. for ken chesebro, his livelihood depends on that. it looks like

essentially sidney powell's attorneys are trying to get the entire thing dismissed.y're saying d.a. fani willis and her team basically have evidence she was not involved in the coffee county data breach. the d.a.'s office just filed their brief in response to this. there's something that complicates this for sidney powell's legal team, that's the guilty plea last week of fellow co-defendant scott hall who essentially pleaded guilty and in that guilty plea essentially admitted that sidney powell did, in fact, enter into a contract with the team that breached the data down in coffee county. this is just a small example of the kind of complications that you see when you're talking about a number of different co-defendants together fighting some of the same changes. but at the same time that all of this is happening, ana, we are seeing a flurry of movement from the d.a.'s office. they essentially put in motion filings asking for out of state testimony for this trial from chesebro and powell in a couple of weeks. the d.a. is seeking from boris epshteyn, linwood among othe

sidney powell is key. she is now the second of these 19 defendants to plead guilty.on interference. particularly in her instance, she was around an alleged effort to tamper with voting machines here. but what is so important about this guilty plea is the fact that -- part of this agreement, she has to go and testify truthfully about all the other 19 defendants, and sidney powell was around for an awful lot. she was attorney for donald trump, was in cahoots with rudy giuliani. she was at the white house in december of 2020 when donald trump talked about appointing her as special counsel to investigate these fraud claims. she was privy to a lot and could be key to the prosecution. >> and so, laura, what could this mean to the case of the former president? >> well, it's not welcome news to former president trump's defense team because obviously she's privy to all the meetings that vaughn laid out and she has to testify truthfully about them or this entire thing falls apart. remember, guys, she was facing serious prison time between 5 and 20 years, and now she gets 6 yea

sidney powell attended.rly heated between normal lawyers and abnormal lawyers, a couple ideas were floated, including whether or not, as mika said, to name sidney powell as a special counsel to investigate election fraud. thank goodness that didn't happen. also, talk about whether the national guard should be deployed, in part to help seize voting machines, whether the election, willie, ought to be rerun. you know, why does that matter? because president trump was there. the most important witnesses in any criminal case are those who have sat next to, talked with, heard from the defendant. mr. trump is the defendant. again, does she, could she have important information? absolutely. you still have to resolve that lingering fifth amendment issue, but i think mika nailed it in her opening. she has proximity to mr. trump, so she could be an important witness to mr. trump. >> and, i mean, she's flipping. chuck, the question that sort of hangs over this, or maybe the reality, clearly, she would have faced some pr

>> it's not possible to be a weaker witness than sidney powell.uppose rudy giuliani is up there on the weak witness category as well, but sidney powell has told so many untruths that i think it's hard to take her seriously. kenneth chesbro is a more serious person, although he has some problems himself, after all, you know, he was the one in emails talking about this as a fake electors scheme. and, look, anybody who is a convicted felon, anyone who has cut a deal with the government is subject to criticism, but now the da has two witnesses and one advantage of i would say a shotgun approach where you're charging a lot of different people with a lot of different crimes. when you fire a shotgun into a crowd you're going to hit somebody. she's bagged a couple targets and more potentially. >> and notably powell and chesbro in their agreements, they have also agreed to testify in future trials including jack smith's federal election subversion case. if you are part of donald trump's defense team none of this is good. >> absolutely not. absolutely not.

how shocked were you when the sidney powell news came down and then kenneth chez bro one day later?> more shocked with chez bro, jim. powell is sort of seemed like the pressure was really mounting on her. chez bro is a little bit of a surprise, that quick turnaround. he seemed, i don't know, seemed like -- i'm not sure what he was bowing to, in terms of the pressure. these are significant victories for the prosecution. i'm not quite sure the term flipping fully applies to them. theoretically it does, they have to give truthful testimony. these don't look like the traditional full cooperation agreements, especially when you hear some of the comments from the lawyers afterwards. i think they're going to try to do what i call the weisselberg walk, the cfo in the new york case where he pleads guilty and he tries to avoid being charged with perjury, but he still walks a very tight line, trying not to incriminate folks like trump. and i think we're going to see that happen with both of these defendants. >> that's fascinating. and so, shan, if that happens what do prosecutors, and what doe

he was expected to be tried alongside former trump lawyer sidney powell, but she suddenly copped a plea yesterday and now plans to testify against any and all of the other co-defendants, including the former president. robert costa has details. >> reporter: sidney powell, the conspiracy peddling former attorney for former president trump, sat in a fulton county courtroom and admitted to her role in the breach of voting systems in georgia. >> are you pleading guilty today because you agree that there is a sufficient factual basis, that there are enough facts that support this plea of guilty? >> i do. >> reporter: powell was sentenced to six years probation, will pay thousands in fines, and write an apology letter to the citizens of georgia. along with trump, she was one of 19 defendants in the case brought by district attorney fani willis. powell agreed to testify truthfully against her co-defendants at future trials. >> if i'm donald trump or i'm donald trump's lawyer, i would certainly not be happy. >> reporter: beyond georgia, powell was a central figure in pushing trump's false elect

. >>> plus the mccracken cracks, sidney powell admits she spread lie after conspiracy after lie about the 2020 election. she will testify at trial, including against donald trump. i'm dana bash. let's go behind the headlines and "inside politics." >>> up first, best laid plans, scrapped. we entered today expecting a third vote right around this time to try once again to give jim jordan the gafl. that vote is no longer happening. now we are told that jordan will get behind plan d or e or i've lost track of the letters at this point, but sources are telling us that jordan will back giving more power to a speaker place holder patrick mchenry, and that will happen while the tries to continue back room dealing to get his way to the gavel over the next few months. let's go straight to manu raju, who is also over this on capitol hill. what is the latest at this moment? has jordan come out of this meeting and said i'm into this temporary plan? . >> reporter: he's said this behind closed doors. there are a number of fast-moving developments in this saga that gop leadership crisis a that has pa

sidney powell and kenneth chesebro pled guilty to over turn the 2020 election.anel is back with me here. trump had to post about this this morning. about sid knowney powell, who pd guilty and is appropriating now with prosecutors. this is what he said on truth social. he said, miss powell was not my attorney and never was. that was his post from this morning. well, turn back the clock, to 2020, not too long ago, he said on twitter, he said that, look, sydne sidney powell added to our wonderful representatives and she was at the november 17th, rnc press conference where she was introduced as a member of the legal team and in the oval office with trump and an attorney in the filings in michigan and in the plea deal for georgia, it is specifically said she was a attorney for the campaign which is the same thing as an attorney for trump. >> yes. i remember that time. i remember when there were measures at the white house to try to prevent her from getting in and she still got in because she knew the vip there as well which is former president trump. so there is that

no, rudy giuliani and sidney powell are not going to be saying that's fine. you really have to break this down to what exactly is -- even if it's inebriated advice, what is the advice that is actually relevant to the pacific parts of the charge? i think it has a very, very long road to have this fly in front of a jury. >> but can i just say there's the reality white house counsel is out there saying do not pass go, bad idea, don't do it, and this one person or maybe two if you're counting sidney powell in there is saying go for it, claim venezuela did it, whatever. >> for one thing there's a criteria to even get a defense of counsel defense. the way this comes up in trial is the defense will try to put on enough evidence to support a request for a jury instruction so the jury could if they find you relied on the advice of counsel they could acquit on a particular charge. to even get that there's criteria that includes you as a client first of all had a counsel relationship that even more clear with respect to giuliani, maybe less clear with respect to sidney

attorney sidney powell, a key figure in former president trump's effort to overturn the 2020 electioncounty courtroom. >> reporter: sidney powell, the conspiracy peddling former attorney for former president donald trump sat in a fulton county courtroom today and admitted to her role in the breach of voting systems in georgia. >> are you pleading guilty today because you agree that there is a sufficient factual basis, that there are enough facts that support this plea of guilty? >> i do. >> reporter: powell was sentenced to six years probation, will pay thousands in fines, and write an apology letter to the citizens of georgia. along with trump, she was one of 19 defendants in the case brought by district attorney fani willis. powell agreed to testify truthfully against her co-defendants at future trials. >> if i'm donald trump or i'm donald trump's lawyer, i would certainly not be happy. >> reporter: beyond georgia, powell was a central figure in pushing trump's false election denial claims. >> president trump won by a landslide. >> reporter: in a now infamous december 2020 oval offi

what we have is sidney powell, one of the top lawyers working for donald trump who is pleading guilty subversion case that she is charged criminally in georgia and this is the state level with her and the 18 other defendants including donald trump, including mark meadows, including rudy giuliani, and in that case, she is pleading not only guilty to charges there, but in court at this very moment entering that plea before the judge. and she is agreeing at this part of the deal to testify at other trials. so she is to go to trial later in the week along with ken chesebro, and she is not going to go to trial, and she won't have that trial, and she is going to be in the situation where the prosecutors recommend her to avoid jail time as part of the deal, but it is significant not only avoiding the trial and putting in the guilty plea, but she is likely to become a witness against donald trump and the others as they go to trial in georgia and a lot here at stake not only in georgia, but also in the federal court in d.c. where another criminal case against the former president exists, and s

note rudy giuliani and sidney powell are not going to be saying that's fine.u have to break this down to, what is exactly -- even if it is inebriated advice, what is the advice that is actually relevant to the specific parts of the charge? and i think it is a very, a very long road to have this fly in front of a jury. >> but can i just say, there is the reality that white house counsel is out there saying, do not pass go, bad idea, don't do it. and this one person, or maybe two if you are counting sidney powell in there, is saying go forward, have the press conference, claim venezuela did it, whatever. how does trump, on the issue of inebriated, escape the possible deniability of saying, i didn't know? i didn't know he was a bad lawyer and he was inebriated? how does jack smith go about proving something like that? >> for one, think there are criteria to even get an advice of counsel defense. because the way this comes up in a trial is that the defense will try to put on enough evidence to support a request for a jury instruction, so that the jury could, if th

one of his co-defendants, his former attorney sidney powell changing her plea to guilty. her sentence and the letter she must write to the citizens of georgia, and will she testify against the former president? >>> and chaos in the house after loosing twice. jim jordan's effort to suspend his speaker bid collapsing. will he call for a third vote? our special coverage begins right now. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt, reporting tonight live from israel. >> good evening and welcome from tel aviv. two worlds of misery tonight just miles apart. in israel, restlessness as the country is still counting its losses and anticipates its offensive against hamas, while in gaza, the humanitarian crisis grows. a territory under siege, squeezed off from the basics, from running water to food. the weight of diplomacy, including president biden's brief visit to israel yesterday, focusing on opening a lifeline to gaza, but still not running tonight. unspoken is what's next. when will israel unleash the might of its military to wrestle gaza away from hamas' grip? t

attorney sidney powell, a key figure in former president donald trump's efforts to overturn the 2020n, has pleaded guilty in a fulton county courtroom. cbs's robert costa reports on what this could mean for her codefendants, including the former president. >> reporter: sidney powell, the conspiracy-pedaling former attorney for former president donald trump, sat in a fulton county courtroom today and admitted to her role in the breach of voting systems in georgia. >> are you pleading guilty today because you agree that there is a sufficient factual basis, that there are enough facts that support this plea of guilty? >> i do. >> reporter: powell was sentenced to six years probation, will pay thousands in fines, and write an apology letter to the citizens of georgia. along with trump, she was 1 of 19 defendants in the case brought by district attorney fani willis. powell agreed to testify truthfully against her codefendants at future trials. >> if i'm donald trump, or i'm donald trump's lawyer, i would certainly not be happy. >> reporter: beyond georgia, powell was a central figure in p

in the georgia election case against donald trump one of his co-defendants, his former attorney, sidney powell, changing her plea to guilty will she testify against the former president? >>> and chaos in the house. after losing twice, jim jordan's plan to try again to win the speaker's gavel. a third floor vote expected tomorrow. >> announcer: this is "nbc nightly news" with lester holt, reporting tonight live from israel. >>> good evening just a short time ago, president biden addressed the american people in a prime time speech about the israel-hamas war and the terror attacks that sparked it almost two weeks ago. mr. biden made the case for tens of billions of dollars in new emergency military aid for israel and ukraine, saying russia's vladimir putin and hamas have a common goal -- the complete annihilation of a neighboring democracy. the president also tried to explain why making sure israel and ukraine succeed are vital for america's national security. it all comes as israel tells its troops to be ready for a ground invasion, and gaza waits for the green light for truckloads of hu

because just a couple of weeks down the road from right now, sidney powell and kenneth chesebro -- sidneyre looks like, based on the available evidence, that scott hall and sidney powell were joined at the hip in some of the crimes that are alleged to have been committed in connection with compromising the coffee county voting equipment. it looks like scott hall may be able to provide some sharply and directly incriminating evidence against sidney powell. so, let's keep an eye out to see how he testifies, because the trial will be televised and livestreamed. >> kristy, let's talk about rudy giuliani, the latest news today, also his second local georgia counsel moving to withdraw. that order hasn't been entered, but the other one has for the first lawyer who withdrew. he's currently not going to have any local counsel. i want you to read some tea leaves for you, not going to hold you to it, but what does that mean when you see rudy giuliani facing significant rico counts, not having any local counsel in atlanta that's willing to represent him? >> well, he has his former lawyer, mr. costell

sidney powell that kind of decision. >> those kinds of decisions, indigenous and. >> just clarifying and my own mind. barbara, i want you to listen to something cassidy hutchinson said about mark meadows tonight. >> mark was sort of all over the board in some ways. he would privately vent to me sometimes that the election, that we had lost the election, or hit privately event to me that trump had said we had lost the election. mark also was a key player in working in characters like sydney powell and like jenna ellis. he would sometimes acknowledge what i've read in the abc report. >> so then, barb, does meadows pose a credibility issue, credibility problem for prosecutors? >> yes, and that is often the case with cooperators. but prosecutors are accustomed to dealing with that. they really want to do two things. first is to satisfy themselves that the witness is telling the truth, can't sponsor untruthful testimony. that's a threshold issue. once they're satisfied, that second test is to persuade the jury there telling the truth. the way they do that is typically not to rely solely o

former trump lawyer, sidney powell, pleaded guilty in the election subversion case. she's admitting her role in the breach of election systems in coffee county, georgia. also required to testify at future trials and though we don't know which ones, donald trump is a co-defendant in the case. if you ever miss an episode, you can listen to the podcast. our coverage continues with wolf blitzer in "the situation room." i'll see you tomorrow. >>> happening now, breaking news. new air strikes on gaza in the israel hamas war. as president biden is preparing to give a wartime speech from the oval office tonight. just hours after returning from the region. we're standing by for new details on what he'll ask of congress and the american people. >>> in the war zone, egypt is expected to open a critical border crossing into gaza within hours and allow the first aid trucks to roll in with life saving supplies. will it actually happen? >>> also breaking, jim jordan just wrapped up a tense meeting with fellow house republicans refusing to support his bid to become the speaker of th

let me play, remind people what sidney powell was doing in 2020.sive influence of communist money through venezuela, cuba and likely china and the interference with our elections here in the united states. howard: kevin, kind of hard for the press to interpret both of these plea bargains as anything other than bad news for trump. >> it's not going to be good news for him not just now, howie, but moving down the line. i think the georgia case, among them all, is the most fraught with peril for the former president because the law is fairly specific. and i think in the case of sidney powell, i think she had to make this deal because she was the one who was out there, out front making lots of statements that later either turned out to not be true or weren't able to be substantiated. unfortunately for the trump team, having that out there is something that could bite him ultimately down the line. howard: yeah. but the question, of course, susan with cheseboro and sidney powell who said she was going to bring the kraken and anyone else who takes a plea

that was a sidney powell, scott hall and others event. then you'll also see what happened with the intimidation tactics, with ruby freeman and shaye moss. i expect you're going to see people being picked off one by one from each of those buckets. you're trying to take out the foundation from the punitive the guy who's the mafia boss. if you're fani willis, chip, chip, chip away. keep on trying to get as many people as possible so that ultimately donald trump has to decide whether or not he thinks he can go to trial against 18 of his co-defendants testifying against him. >> barbara, does it necessarily follow that if you take a plea deal that includes a felony, even though it's not prison, includes a felony, that you know more or how valuable does your testimony need to be for prosecutors to say, we think we have you on a felony, with but i don't want to say walk away from this, there are other things he has to do, like significant community service, to make this kind of deal? >> i think all of these initial deals are favorable to the defe

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here's sidney powell. she pled to misdemeanor charges. >> are you pleading guilty today because you agree that there is a sufficient factual basis, that there are enough facts that support this plea of guilty? >> i do. >> same judge, same courtroom. today's plea by chesebro is the next domino to fall. by pleading guilty he avoided having to face the person who pled guilty yesterday. powell was on track to testify against him at this very trial where you saw the judge was already reviewing potential jurors. going second, it appears he had to cut potentially his own version of a tougher deal because this is the first felony conviction. we have it here. chesebro admitting to a charge laid out in the indictment, that he conspired to knowingly file and record those false certificates of the votes of the 2020 electors from georgia. as part of the plea deal, chesebro gets a fine, probation, but most critically, like powell, the now-convicted trump lawyer yesterday, he vows to testify at any future trials. those i