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

and because of these statements and many other things sidney powell has said she's being sued not by e but by two companies who provided election software to the u.s. during the 2020 election, dominion and smartmatic. ms. powell has now admitted many of her claims were false, and today she pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor charges of election interference in georgia related to her quest to try to help trump stay in power, specifically her role in breaching voting machine equipment in coffey county, georgia. >> can you please state your true and correct name? >> sidney catherine powell. >> how do you plead to the six counts to commit interference of election duties? >> guilty. >> as part of the deal powell will receive six years probation and must pay a $6,000 fine. most importantly, though, her plea deal requires her to testify truthfully at the trials of any of the other georgia codefendants including donald trump. so now that sidney powell is talking in georgia what does that mean for trump or for his codefendants on team crazy, rudy giuliani, and john eastman? and more to the point

attorney sidney powell is the second defendant in the sprawling case to reach a deal with prosecutors. powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors for conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties. she'll serve six years of probation, pay a $6,000 fine, and write an apology letter to georgia and its residents. she also agreed to testify truthfully against her codefendants in future trials. she already has been doing some of that. >> do you understand there's a special condition of this sentence that you are to provide what you have already done, a recorded proffer to the state and provide any documents and evidence subject to any lawful privileges asserted in a good faith prior to entering this plea? >> i do. >> her deal and the subsequent cooperation is the most immediate threat to the former president. it will also be our first real opportunity to hear from a key player from trump's inner circle about what trump was truly thinking in the days between him losing the election and the assault on our capitol. this deal will also be extremely helpful to spec

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, t

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

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

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

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 me

>> 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

earlier today sidney powell pleaded guilty to six counts of election interference day before her trial was set to begin as part of a plea deal former trump attorney powell may have to testify against the former president at future trials. let's get the details now with cnn's kaitlan polantz following the details. >> reporter: boris, this is a significant step forward for state prosecutors in georgia who brought a massive racketeering case against donald trump and 18 others, sidney powell is the second person charged in that 19-defendant case to plead guilty and is pretty significant person in that admitting to essentially tampering with voting equipment or wanting to tamper with voting equipment as well as voter data in koefr co coffey county, georgia. part of the case prosecutors accused all of these people of the a large conspiracy and accused her specifically being involved in and they are having her plead guilty to six misdemeanor charges that comes with a cooperation agreement. means that sidney powell, if the prosecutors want to put her on the stand in front of a jury as they hav

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

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

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

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

last week we told you that former trump lawyer sidney powell pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with in their investigation in trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in georgia you might recall powell from this recent mug shot where she looks like she just saw the video tape from "the ring" and she was on it. [ laughter ] "hello seven days all right. i'll see you then. telemarketers. [ laughter ] or you might also remember powell from her star turn as one of the key witnesses in the january 6th hearing where she was asked about her conversations with president trump in the run-up to the coup attempt. >> in fact, you did get to see the president without an appointment? >> we did. >> in the short period of time that you had with the president, did he seem receptive to the presentation that you were making >> he was very interested in hearing particularly about the -- finding and the terms of 13848 that apparently nobody else had bothered to inform him of [ laughter ] >> seth: god bless the video editor who decided to leave in that long beat of powell downing her diet dr.

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 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

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

>> 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.

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

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 does

. >>> 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

impact on trump and others in the case could be significant. >> if you were ever in the room with sidney powell. >> reporter: in exchange for no jail time, powell pleaded to reduced charges just one day before jury selection was set to begin in her trial. and sources close to former president trump tell me her testimony will be closely watched by his inner circle. >> i bet. robert costa, thank you. >>> well, tonight more twists and turns and growing frustrations as the republican-led house tries to elect a new speaker and get back to business. congressman jim jordan, in a major reversal, is now pushing for a third vote to try and win the gavel. earlier today, jordan said he would support having interim speaker patrick mchenry lead the house temporarily. but some fellow republicans revolted against that plan. it is not clear at this hour when the next vote will be held. >>> the drugstore chain cvs is pulling some of the most widely used decongestants from its shelves and will no longer sell them. the company says it will stop selling certain pills, syrups, and liquids that have oral phenylephrin

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

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

impact on trump and others in the case could be significant. >> you were ever in the room with sidney powelle very, very nervous now. >> reporter: in exchange for no jail time, powell pleaded to reduced charges, just one day before jury selection was set to begin in her trial, and sources close to former president trump tell me her testimony will be closely watched by his inner circle. >> norah: i bet. robert costa, thank you. well, tonight, more twists and turns and growing frustrations as the republican-led house tries to elect a new speaker and get back to business. congressman jim jordan, in a major reversal, is now pushing for a third vote to try and win to gavel. earlier today, jordan said he would support having interim speaker patrick mchenry lead the house temporarily, but some fellow republicans revolted against that plan. it is not clear at this hour when the next vote will be held. the nation's largest pharmacy chain is pulling some of the most common cold and cough medications from its shelves. we will explain why next. and struggle. ♪ and struggle with cpap. you should check ou

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

standoff over choosing a new speaker and reopening the house. >>> and donald trump's ex-lawyer, sidney powell, flips on the former president and pleads guilty in the georgia election subversion case. powell's deal putting trump in even greater legal peril right now. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> this is cnn breaking news. >>> we're kepeping a very close eye on the conflict in gaza. we're now just two hours away from the president's rare prime time oval office address to the nation. he's set to lay out the stakes for americans as war rages in the middle east as well as in ukraine. our correspondents are standing by in israel and on the front lines at this very dangerous moment in the war against hamas. let's start with kaitlan collins. she's joining us from tel aviv. what do we expect president biden to say tonight? >> reporter: well, wolf, it's o only the second time you've seen president biden sit behind that resolute desk in the oval office and address the nation in prime time. i think it speaks t

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 humanitar

first you'll hear from brian rafferty, the attorney for sidney powell, and then you'll hear from wootenon behalf of the state. take a look. >> as i said, ms. powell had nothing to do with coffee county. she didn't have anything to do with it. i have been contending that. i have been contending that there's evidence that shows that, so that testimony, e-mails, documents, other information that demonstrates that people were asked, what do you know about ms. powell connected to coffee county, and they say nothing. never talked to her. never spoke with her. never net met with her. all of that information is brady. >> and the fact is the defendant's pleadings and arguments are based on falsehoods, and the state takes these allegations against us very very seriously, the allegation that we're withholding evidence, suppressing evidence and committing prosecutorial misconduct are outrageous, they're not true. >> reporter: so while we're hearing those arguments from both sides, further complicating sidney powell's argument is the fact that just a few days ago, last week, we had another codefenda

them have to provide truthful testimony, and like dominos that are falling with scott hall to sidney powell kenneth chesebro, let's see whether or not any of the remaining 16 are going toake a plea, but notably judge mcafee was waiting for thesebro powell trial to conclude before providing a trial date for former president donald trump and the remaining 16 co-defendants. so now that there's no trial, i anticipate a case management conference very soon where that trial date gets set. >> all right, barbara, tell us just how big of a deal is this? >> this is enormous. first, chris, it's because kenneth chesebro has pleaded guilty. that's one fewer -- second is cooperation, which will be enormously important. he was the architect of the fake -- about that and about that scheme, he could certainly be very -- he's been also -- donald trump. but third, there's they were going to have to try this case twice, where all the other defendants would get a pretty view of the evidence. now that this case is off the table they will not have to do this trial twice, they can focus on the remaining defendants

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

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

and sidney powell here is looking at six months of rowebration rather than however -- probation ratherwever long she might have spent in jail. even in a white-collar prison, it's not a please ant place. a defendant such as powell had a huge incentive to do so. he's still going to go trial, he's scheduled to go trial, stay tuned. who knows what happens between today and monday. >> this is just one of her legal woes, though, that she has kind of disspence -- dispensed with, a co-conspirator in the case and defamation cases have proved to be so expensive and maybe not advantageous to her in the outcome. >> we've identified her as one of the co-defendants in the case to overturn the election. her legal future uncertain. and the civil matters, the defamation cases, a lot of legal bills mounting for powell. >> a quick points, the thing that we showed from inside the courtroom, it's pretty basic and boiler plate. judges read that about everybody. she has to testify truthfully. and because of the potential risk of what could come to her if she doesn't, people see these plea agreements as prose