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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Powell Pleads guilty

Powell Pleads guilty

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CNN reports that Sidney Powell, one of the intellectual featherweights behind the coup pled guilty today in Georgia:

Sidney Powell has pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case, one day before her trial was set to start.

Fulton County prosecutors are recommending a sentence of six years probation. Powell will also be required to testify at future trials and write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia.

As part of her guilty plea, Powell is admitting her role in the January 2021 breach of election systems in rural Coffee County, Georgia.

I would have hoped for jail time but if probation and likely getting disbarred is the cost of getting a cooperative witness, good enough.

Reader Interactions

171Comments

  1. 1.

    Barbara

    This is really big.  Her bio says she was born in 1955, so is 68, meaning that she is probably really eager to avoid any jail time, or consuming more of her resources in mounting an actual defense in a complex trial.  The recommendation for no jail time is likely being offered in exchange for testimony.

    It sounds like Ms. Powell hired competent criminal counsel

    ETA: The first one to fold usually starts a cascade, if not an avalanche.

  2. 2.

    WV Blondie

    So … It finally sank into that dimwit’s head that she could go to prison unless she pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against coconspirators. I fully expect Chesebro (pronounced “CHEESE! Bro”) to do the same before the end of the day.

  3. 3.

    E.

    SIX YEARS PROBATION???? GOD DAMNIT FUCK. Are you kidding me?? I have spent months in jail over very minor protest actions (against bad forestry practices mostly) in my life. This woman tried to fucking destroy our country I have not been this angry since I was a child I cannot believe this. My God I need to go for a walk I am enraged right now I cannot believe this.

  4. 4.

    Tom Levenson

    Beaten by 5 minutes!

    Pulled my post, but I’ll leave a link to the perfect illustration (IMHO) of the Kraken, leashed.

    PS: I too am angry at the lack of jail time. But if her testimony helps nail TFG (whether directly or by adding to the pressure on those who could connect those dots), then I’ll swallow the inequity.

  7. 7.

    Another Scott

    @E.: OTOH, I’ve heard stories about people taking a jail term instead of probation because of the “always looking over one’s shoulder, praying not to encounter monstrous police with a chip on their shoulder that can send them to prison, etc.”.

    6 years of weekly check-ins, people looking over your shoulder at your every move, etc., is a long time.

    Plus, a judge has to accept the plea deal.

    We’ll see.

    Cheers,
    Scott.
    (“Who also would prefer some actual jail time, but this is not nothing.”)

  8. 8.

    Michael Bersin

    “…Sidney Powell has pleaded guilty in the Georgia election…”

    Piping.

    [From my undergraduate general geology class decades ago when we discussed how earth fill dams can fail.]

  9. 9.

    Kristine

    Has anyone else had BJ crash while trying to view on a phone/tablet? First time in months. Happens on both Safari and Chrome, iOS 17.0.3, over the last couple of days. I’m tending towards blaming some muck-up on ex-Twitter, but that’s just me spitballing.

  10. 10.

    teezyskeezy

    @E.: Yeah but they are pressuring her to testify against the others. If she refuses or they catch her perjuring herself, she’s toast and she knows it. This speeds things along and makes a better case against you know who. He’s the one that must be stopped. Eye on the prize.

  11. 11.

    jonas

    @Barbara:  I think she took a look at Giuliani and went “yeah, I don’t want to end up like that…”

    In related news, Jimmy Kimmel had a hilarious clip last night of some guy on one of those wingnut networks interviewing Mike Lindell, officially the Universe’s Most Persecuted Being, Even Way More Than Jesus™, who was — of course — hucking a new line of MyBedSheets or something and complaining about how broke-ass he is. He then tells the interviewer that he’d be happy to fly him down to some event he was appearing at “on my plane.”

    He’s supposedly so broke his business is in danger of shutting down and he can’t pay his lawyers anymore, but he can hobnob with rightwing media personalities on a private jet, apparently.

    Judgment day cannot come soon enough for these assclowns.

  14. 14.

    jonas

    @Kristine: I can’t read it a lot of the time anymore on my Fire tablet (meaning I have to haul my lazy ass out of bed, pour some coffee, and get the laptop). It’s the image/twitter embeds or something. They take forever to load, and then the browser just freezes or crashes.

  16. 16.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Another Scott: also, I’m guessing she gave up something substantial. As near as I can tell– this story kind of fell off my radar in this crowded week– her deal was announced after The Cheese turned his down? I wonder if he’s reconsidering?

    Joyce Alene @JoyceWhiteVance 1m

    A plea to misdemeanor charges signals that prosecutors see high value in her testimony. Trump should be nervous. & it’s likely she’ll be a witness in the fed’l case too. Chesebro next

    ETA: this is from last night:

    Olivia Rubin @OliviaRubinABC 15h

    SCOOP: Trump co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro — who is heading to trial this week– rejected a plea offer from Fulton County prosecutors, sources told @ABC
    The deal would have allowed Chesebro to avoid prison time in exchange for testifying

  17. 17.

    E.

    @teezyskeezy: I know I know and I have to believe the people who made this decision know what they are doing and it is a reasoned and thoughtful decision, it’s just such a punch in the gut. I once got two years probation where I could not leave the COUNTY I got arrested in, in Idaho, and yes had to do all the reporting and piss tests and every damn thing. I spent two years in a backwards, right-wing county where I was not permitted inside my local grocery store because I was hated by everyone in the town I was forced to live in. I had to apply with my Probation Officer for a trip over the state line once a month to get groceries. What I did is stand in front of a Forest Service rig and refuse to get out of the way. Also spent two months in jail for that. Christ. This woman tried to kill our democracy.

  19. 19.

    hueyplong

    If this news produces the long sought after Trump stroke, it will be worth limiting Powell’s punishment to probation until she’s 74 and the effective immediate end of her career.  Remember, having been a “rat” in RWNJ land’s eyes means no talking head work on FoxNews and the other Nazi outlets.

    She might not even outlive the probation.  I know that’s weak tea for E., but it’s something.

  20. 20.

    Kay

    I’m disappointed. I think Coffee County is really important. It’s the only place they were charged with actual election system interference and tampering. I think a trial would be good for the country. I still have some hope Michigan may pursue a similiar case and I still wonder if they did any of this in Pennsylvania. I think it’s important for the public to understand that what Republicans intended to do was to throw out the votes of (primarily) African Americans in GA and MI and PA.

    We keep being told by media that election systems were secure. That’s not true. They breached systems because they were able to coerce local Republican public employees to get access to the systems. This is important. Local GOP officials are a weak link in our election systems – they’re corrupted. They need to be removed from these positions.

  21. 21.

    geg6

    @jonas:

    My guess is the Twitter embeds.  Musk Melonhead is to blame, I have no doubt.  And even if it isn’t the Twitter embeds, I’m gonna blame him anyway just because I hate him.

  23. 23.

    teezyskeezy

    @Michael Bersin: 1. My brain is so tired from a late work night that I wondered for a second why you were studying earthen dams in a geneology class.  2. You bring back “wonderful” memories of sandbagging sand boils near levees to stop piping failure.

  24. 24.

    Butch

    @E.: Yeah, the  sentence was more severe when I got caught with a couple of joints in a state park.  I guess it’s the price for cooperation.

  25. 25.

    JPL

    @Kay: The officials involved will see jail time.   I assume some will now plea in order to reduce the amount of time.   Although I agree with you that she deserves jail time, she might have information that would further indict trump.

  26. 26.

    teezyskeezy

    @E.: Oh I understand the anger too, especially from someone who’s gone against a logging company or the arm of the government that serves their interests. They get what they want in certain states and get prosecutors to play hardball.  Like coal mining in West Virginia.

    Edit: I guess I misread you…it was forestry service practices not private logging, or was it the cooperation of the Forestry Service with the interests of logging companies?

  27. 27.

    Juju

    I appreciate pled. Pleaded is like using sleeped.  I’ve have wondered if maybe she has some sort of dementia or I wonder what happened to her. She used to be an impressive attorney and not a crackpot. She has the old white lady thing going for her. Old white ladies can get away with all sorts of things. This is probably why she was offered probation, that and being the second to plead. I look forward to reading her letter.

  29. 29.

    E.

    Just to be clear, I knew what I was getting into when I did it and I am not bitching about the injustice of my experience, even though that’s what it sounds like I’m doing. I just wonder how valuable her batshit testimony is even going to be and I feel her actions warrant something more. But I will calm down in a minute and recognize that she is not the one we need in prison.

  30. 30.

    RandomMonster

    @Kristine: Has anyone else had BJ crash while trying to view on a phone/tablet?

    Yes. iPhone 11 Pro Max, iOS 16.6.1, using Safari. When I open BJ, it starts to load the page but bombs out while trying to load Twitter links (I think). However, I’ve noticed that if (before encountering the error) I quickly tap the article header/link, thus navigating from BJ home to the article, the article and all links load fine.

  31. 31.

    PaulWartenberg

    (clears throat) Give me a moment.

    (deep inhale)

    HAHAHAAHAHAHAAAHHHAH AHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAAH HEHEEHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA HAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

    Thank you.

  32. 32.

    Juju

    @Kristine: My iPhone wouldn’t load anything on this website last night. I didn’t bother to check my iPad. When one doesn’t load here, that usually means the other won’t load. iPad works. I’m assuming the iPhone will work, but I haven’t checked.

  33. 33.

    E.

    @teezyskeezy: Logging on federal land, US Forest Service land. By a private operator (as is always the case in the U.S. — if the Forest Service did the logging themselves we would be in way better shape but whatever, it was a long long time ago).

  35. 35.

    Suzanne

    @Kristine: With this post, I’m now having trouble on my tablet. Usually, the page loads just the width of the post….. now it’s also loading the sidebar.

    ETA: Comment #31 seems to be the culprit.

  36. 36.

    Tom Levenson

    @Gin & Tonic: I did not, but I saw a bunch of his watercolors in Tate Britain in London a few years ago.

    Can’t recommend that museum enough. It’s slightly out of the way compared with the other Tates and other great London galleries. But that meant it is much less crazy than those.

  38. 38.

    jonas

    @Juju: Isn’t saying “pled” instead of “pleaded” sort of like using “hung” instead of “hanged” when talking about an execution?  Lord knows I’m no grammar nazi, so maybe I’ve been wrong this whole time. I plead ignorance.

  39. 39.

    hueyplong

    @Kay: Maybe I’m missing something, but unless every co-defendant on the Coffee County counts pleads out, it seems like there will still be a trial on that subject.  So I’m not 100% sure why you’re disappointed yet.  In fact, what happened today seems likely to give you confessional testimony that should make the trial even more educational for the American public.  So far no one thinks that trial would be post-election.

  41. 41.

    ETtheLibrarian

    Now can she get disbarred from everywhere?

     

    (oh, it goes without saying but I will do so anyway – #ETTD)

  44. 44.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Juju: … She has the old white lady thing going for her. Old white ladies can get away with all sorts of things.

    Crazy old white lady. Sad, although I agree she is getting away lightly. I hope her testimony is worth it.

  46. 46.

    taumaturgo

    @E.: Are you an elite? No? Then realize that the elites will always take care of their own. Proof? Look how the judicial system is treating Donald with kiddie gloves.

  47. 47.

    smith

    Fani Willis just got hold of 15,000 emails and texts to and from Misty Hampton, the election supervisor in Coffee County, in which Kraken Powell undoubtedly figures prominently. The jig was up for her, and she needed to use the only card she had. I’m guessing others involved in the voting machine caper are also feeling a lot of heat, but I hope they won’t all be allowed to plead out. We need an actual trial on that to make sure Americans are fully aware of what they tried to do. There is another election machine tampering case in MI that hopefully will also make the point.

  50. 50.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    Guess this is going to put a damper on that tournament at Doral.

    Anyway, I’m not completely up on sentencing practices anymore, but I’d think that when Rudy finally gets convicted and sentenced (and this makes it highly likely), I’d like to think that there might be an inmate or two bearing a bit of a grudge from his salad days….

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    @Kristine:

    Has anyone else had BJ crash while trying to view on a phone/tablet? First time in months. Happens on both Safari and Chrome, iOS 17.0.3, over the last couple of days. I’m tending towards blaming some muck-up on ex-Twitter, but that’s just me spitballing.

    Sometimes problems on my Android phone.

  52. 52.

    Steeplejack

    @Barbara:

    I wonder if she will be required to disgorge the big bucks she raked in from the MAGAts while whipping them into a frenzy. Can they even force her to do that? I hope she had to blow it all on lawyers.

  55. 55.

    Alison Rose

    Sing for your supper, Sidney!

    I’m annoyed she’s not doing time, but as others have noted, if she helps them throw TIFG’s ass in prison, I think that’s a worthy trade-off.

  56. 56.

    Cameron

    This probably won’t mean a lot to people outside of Florida, but I just read that Manatee County (where I live) has named or re-named one of its public parks for….Ron DeSantis.  One more thing I’ve added to the list to convince LOML to run off to the Old Country with me.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @hueyplong:

    Because I want Americans to have an opportunity to make the connection between national conservative activists and local Republican public officials. The individuals don’t matter that much – there will be other Powells and other local corrupt officials. Americans need to understand that this authoritarian, anti democratic ideology put their elections system integrity at risk.

    Powell is the face of that. The local officials were taking orders from national GOP operatives. That’s why they violated their oaths – because they follow authoritarians.

    There was a lot of media discussion of Russian interference in the elections – I don’t think people really understood it. It was too attentuated. Ludicrously, there was almost NO media discussion of this interference. This is different. In this they breached the systems. They were in there. Direct interference. Tampering.

    I think they’re going to try it again, hence my concern.

  58. 58.

    Juju

    @jonas: I was raised by grammarians. I was taught hung and pled. Pleaded is a more recent development.  I am a former teacher and I’m used to correcting.  Hearing or reading pleaded is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. I just appreciate hearing what used to be considered the correct form.

  59. 59.

    wjca

    Does she deserve jail time?  Absolutely!

    Is it worth letting her go with probation in order to a) get her testimony against the others (including TIFG), b) start a cascade of others flipping (for substantially less good deals), and c) find additional miscreants that were previously unknown or had too little evidence to charge?  Also yes.

    Any time a plea deal is made, somebody gets a less severe sentence than he deserves.  And when the basic crime includes multiple others, the benefit to the guy who flips gains more.

  63. 63.

    hells littlest angel

    Being old, corrupt and batshit crazy, and having to testify without committing perjury sounds awfully stressful. What a shame.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    @hueyplong:

    Imagine if this happened on our side. Imagine if Joe Biden had had operatives inside a county election system. Media would talk of nothing else. I bet 1 in 10,000 Americans know what Coffee County was even about. Fewer than that. 1 in 100,000.

  66. 66.

    grumbles

    As a condition of supervised release, defendant shall wear a tentacle suit at all times while in public. A Sandwich board explanation of these conditions may be worn, verbiage subject to court approval, but must be hand painted, hyperbolic and include at least 6 exclamation points.

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack

    @PaulWartenberg:

    Reminder: The extremely long ha-ha-has, while admittedly hilarious, break the goddamn margin on mobile devices. Keep it under about 25 characters and you’re okay.

    Maintenance has been informed.

    ETA: Or throw in some hyphens so FYWP can break the line.

  69. 69.

    hueyplong

    @Kay: But she’ll be testifying for the prosecution.  Why isn’t that better?  The subject matter will be the same as it was before she flipped.

  72. 72.

    smith

    @Kay: Following up on that, I hope the people involved in the voting machine break-in who were public officials aren’t allowed to plead out. As bad as the freelancers like Powell and Hall were, people like Misty Hampton violated a public trust, and that should not be forgiven.

  73. 73.

    Shalimar

    @jonas: Pleaded is the correct legal word.  Pled is not.  But this only really matters to lawyers.  People can use whichever one they want.

  75. 75.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gin & Tonic:

    But aren’t “hung” and “hanged” two distinctly different things?

    Compare and contrast:

    (a) Tom Dooley was really hanged.

    (b) Tom Dooley was really hung.

    ;-)

  76. 76.

    coin operated

    Crazy != stupid. Powell had access to all the evidence they were going use at trial and chose to cut her loses with a plea.

    Do I wish for prison time? Sure as hell do…but I’m not Willis and I don’t know what Powell proferred to get the deal. I’ll trust Willis on this…she has LOTS of experience with GA RICO prosecutions.

  77. 77.

    Alison Rose

    @coin operated: Yeah, Willis knows what she’s doing. I highly doubt she would’ve let Powell take a plea if she wasn’t going to offer up something substantive.

    (ETA I almost wrote “cop a plea” and then I realized that would make me sound like someone who got all their legal knowledge from Law & Order. Which I did.)

  79. 79.

    E.

    @Soprano2: Sure, I can live with just about anything if it gets TFG. I’d probably give up an eye and a couple of fingers if that’s what it took.

    The point here is, how much do we *have* to live with. Do we really have to live with the scenario Kay is outlining, or could we give up a little less and still get the main prize? I see Powell as a ringleader, a lawyer who attempted to overthrow a presidential election and nearly succeeded. This isn’t an either/or, it is a continuum, and a judgment call was made to essentially give her her freedom in exchange for what she knows. Maybe it was a good call, how would I know? I’m only saying it grates.

  80. 80.

    smith

    Another point about Powell’s cooperation: Although she was only charged in the voting machine part of the conspiracy, she was present for some of the key meetings at WH as they were unrolling the plot. Assuming she is found credible by the jury, her testimony about what went down there gets to the heart of the involvement of TFG and his main henchmen and will be hard to overcome.

  81. 81.

    Righteous Hazard

    Good. In a world with multiple huge fires burning all at once, this may seem like a small fire extinguished.

    But it is actually a big fire, and only looks small on first glance because it is part of a larger conflagration.

    I wish it was jail time, but if probation and cooperation helps put out the conflagration, so be it.

  82. 82.

    coin operated

    @smith:

    I hope the people involved in the voting machine break-in who were public officials aren’t allowed to plead out. As bad as the freelancers like Powell and Hall were, people like Misty Hampton violated a public trust, and that should not be forgiven.

    +1

  84. 84.

    smith

    Looks like Jordan has opted out of a third day of ritual humiliation, and will support super-sizing McHenry’s powers.

  85. 85.

    Kay

    @smith:

    They cannot keep these jobs. It is insane to continue to allow these people to run election systems. These are serious felonies! It can’t be no harm no foul misdemeanors with an apology.

    Imagine if this had been local AA elections systems workers in Detroit or Philadelphia. We would see serious prison time.

    They are going to try this again. There need to be consequences.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    In other news, Gym Jordan is declining to put himself through a third day of humiliation. Looks like they’re going to give it to Bowtie McTemporary.

  87. 87.

    Manyakitty

    @Juju: not sure about the details, but I think it has something to do with Andrew Weissman. Where is LAO when we need her?

  88. 88.

    Brit in Chicago

    @Juju: “hanged” at least has a correct use, as the past of “to hang” when it means to put someone to death by hanging. “Pleaded” has not place.

    I’ll see your pedantry and raise you

    ETA: by “pedantry” I mean fully justified concern for correct English.

  89. 89.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Omnes Omnibus: This.  It’s a plea DEAL.  And Prosecutors use them for reasons.  It is unavoidable that some really shitty people will get way less punishment than we wish for, in order to nail the even shittier people.  This is what Flipping entails and it is how you go at the King, effectively.

  90. 90.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Juju: I don’t doubt you.

    Slightly OT, my thanks to whoever recommended the Thursday Murder Club. One of the characters makes the similar point that dragging an old white lady into court isn’t productive. In a very different context but the idea applies.

  92. 92.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @smith:

    Keeping fingers crossed that McHenry doesn’t list Gym as the Pro Tem on his own sooper sekrit list.

  93. 93.

    hueyplong

    @smith: “Looks like Jordan has opted out of a third day of ritual humiliation, and will support super-sizing McHenry’s powers.”

    I’m going to resist the >25 character BWAHAHAHA thing, but it’s taking a whole lot of self-control to do so.

  94. 94.

    WaterGirl

    @E.: I get that you’re angry.

    do you know what a lost leader is in a grocery store is? that’s where they put one thing on sale where they lose money but it will get people to come into the store and buy other things that will make them a lot more money.

    I think that’s what this is this is to encourage other people to come forward. this, and probably Chesebro as well, they will get a bunch of people to start talking.

    this was always the plan when she did the RICO indictment probably hoping maybe half of the people will plead. It’s hard to be patient, though!

    I’m sorry you’ve been in jail for stuff that should not have put you in jail.

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    @Brit in Chicago:

    @Juju: “hanged” at least has a correct use, as the past of “to hang” when it means to put someone to death by hanging. “Pleaded” has not place.

    “Not place?”

    Must evoke Mitchell and Webb.

  98. 98.

    Cameron

    I’m sure I’m not the first to think of this, but I’m an olde farte with receding cognitive abilities.  When I hear of defendant Chesebro, all I can think of is John Belushi on Saturday Night Live saying, “Chesebro, chesebro, chesebro.”

  100. 100.

    Alison Rose

    @matt: Honestly, normally I’m not in favor of disenfranchisement, but I don’t think she should be allowed to vote in any future elections. You try to steal one, you don’t get to help decide any others.

  104. 104.

    montanareddog

    Merriam Webster on pleaded vs pled

    In legal use (such as “pleaded guilty,” “pled guilty”), both forms are standard, though pleaded is used with greater frequency. In nonlegal use (such as “pleaded for help”), pleaded appears more commonly, though pled is also considered standard.

  105. 105.

    hueyplong

    It’s entirely possible Powell sees misdemeanors-only not just as a way to keep voting, but also as an arguing point on trying to keep her bar licenses, but in the real world she probably only gets hired for RWNJ-type cases, and as of this morning she’s dead to them.

    I’m really, really interested to learn Trump’s public reactions.  He rarely suffers in silence.

  107. 107.

    jonas

    @Gin & Tonic:  That’s what I always thought, e.g. “The laundry was hung out to dry” vs. “The horse thief was hanged last Thursday”. Hung is the past tense of hang — except when talking about a hanging.

  108. 108.

    Dr. Jakyll and Miss Deride

    @Brit in Chicago: At the appellate court I used to work for, the presiding judge (a conservative in every sense of the word) sent around style memos.  One of them specifically forbade “pled.”  I don’t remember whether he gave any reason.

  111. 111.

    Anoniminous

    Speaker Pro tempore powers are limited to only presiding over floor debate and voting about the election of a new speaker.  Any other power granted by the legislature must be specifically granted by the House members acting as a Committee of the Whole since the Rules Committee cannot bring a motion to the floor because there’s no Speaker to call the House to Order.  As a Committee of the Whole the House will operate under procedural rules that are based on those of a committee.

    Methinks.

  112. 112.

    Brachiator

    @jonas:

    That’s what I always thought, e.g. “The laundry was hung out to dry” vs. “The horse thief was hanged last Thursday”. Hung is the past tense of hang — except when talking about a hanging.

    I wonder whether discussions about hanged vs hung influenced the adoption of lethal injection.

  114. 114.

    Kay

    @E.:

    There was another high profile state RICO case in Georgia. The case where they prosecuted 35 public school teachers and principals (mostly AA) for (supposedly) cheating on standardized tests. There are a lot of questions about whether they all actually cheated or it turned into a witch hunt. I’m on team witch hunt. Some of them got 20 year sentences and will serve 7. 

    So this is why I think Sidney Fucking Powell should not be walking out with a slap on the wrist for orchestrating an actual breach of an election system. She’s not a small fish. She ran the Coffee County breaking and entering.

  115. 115.

    montanareddog

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: Bizarrely, to my ears, “he pled guilty” sounds better than “he pleaded guilty”, but “pleaded for help” better than “pled for help”. Go figure and I will just let people go with what they want.

  116. 116.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Cameron:

    This probably won’t mean a lot to people outside of Florida, but I just read that Manatee County (where I live) has named or re-named one of its public parks for….Ron DeSantis.

    That genuinely sucks.  My wife and son and I have vacationed on Anna Maria Island nearly every year since he was a toddler, so we’re rather fond of Manatee County.

  118. 118.

    Juju

    @Gin & Tonic:  I had to look this up because I was taught by my parents that hanged was not correct. According to the majority of the grammar sites I looked at, hanged and hung are both past tense, but hanged is in reference to a death by hanging, although they both were used in that regard hundreds of years ago and hanged evolved to refer to the death sentence. In my defense I never committed an offense that was worthy of being hanged as far as my parents were concerned, and I assumed when I was corrected it applied to all hang, hung situations. But apparently what they say about assume is true.

    A few weeks back when you mentioned something about there being a dirty joke about a gladius but you were going swimming and didn’t have the time to come up with one, I managed to come up with a joke. Is that a sword in your pocket or are you just gladius to see me?

  120. 120.

    Steeplejack

    @Kristine:

    Downstairs some people were saying that the problem occurs only on the front page, not on individual posts. I almost never use the front page, even on my small Android phone, because I find it more convenient to use the “next post” wing gizmo to open posts, usually in a new tab.

    As someone suggested above, maybe hop to the individual post from the front page as soon as you get a bead on it? And I highly recommend that people consider learning a bit about the wonders of having several open tabs. Game-changer!

  124. 124.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay:

    I bet 1 in 10,000 Americans know what Coffee County was even about. Fewer than that. 1 in 100,000.

    I’d take the other side of that bet.  1 in 100,000 Americans is 3400 Americans.  That’s not many people in a nation this big.  This isn’t the only place where a bunch of Americans know about Coffee County and the voting machines.

  127. 127.

    cain

    @E.: I appreciate the resistance efforts and the price you paid to stop actions that you believe were wrong. That gives you an A+ in my book!

  131. 131.

    montanareddog

    @Alison Rose: In Group C of Euro 2024, England are qualified already and the second qualifiying slot is now up for grabs between Ukraine and Italy. Ukraine are 3 points ahead with one match to play, and Italy have 2 matches to play.

    Italy have North Macedonia at home on 17th November. Then away to Ukraine on 20th November – that match is going to be a must-watch no matter what happens in Italy-North Macedonia.

  132. 132.

    Juju

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: I’m just going by observations of what my mother, aunts and other older women could get away with. I’m not that old yet. I’m at the woman of a certain age, mostly invisible point in life.

  133. 133.

    cain

    @Kay: That right wing apparatus set up with their bots is what keeps hunter biden in everyone’s radar which in turn gives journos impetus to write more articles for more clicks. Moronic.

    You’re absolutely right that there has been no discussion by journalists. Maybe we should just start writing our own articles on this stuff and then get our own boosters!

  136. 136.

    cain

    @smith: 1000% – I think prosecutors get that – a person in govt who violates the trust of the public and their oath should go to jail as a message to anyone else who contemplates doing something similar.

    The law will find out and there will be consequences.

  137. 137.

    smith

    A couple other points about Powell flipping: She’s pretty much going to have to testify for Jack Smith as well, and if, as it looks like now, TFG is going to try to use reliance on counsel as a defense, she was one of those counsel, and her testimony might not help in that regard. Same would be true if Chesebro decides to flip.

  138. 138.

    PST

    I wonder whether the decision to give Sydney Powell fairly easy terms has to do not only with her testimony but with the DA’s desire to avoid giving the more numerous and important defendants the advantage of seeing too much of the evidence and tactics that she plans to employ later. If that’s true, it might help Chesebro get off even easier. He and Powell did not have all that much to do with one another (if I recall correctly). That was one of his arguments against being tried together. This could mean that he has little to fear from her testimony, and now reaching a plea deal with him could be the only obstacle to avoiding entirely the need to expose more of the prosecution’s cards next week.

    I cannot help but comment on pleaded vs. pled, although it is one of the most tired debates there is in legal grammar circles. Despite a frequency of appearance of both forms sufficient to make many dictionaries hesitant to call either incorrect, I can promise that in the legal world you are far, far more likely to raise the hackles of your reader (often your judge) by using pled. The pleaded crowd contains many who firmly believe that pled is simply wrong wrong wrong in legal usage. So we all learn not to take chances with that one.

  139. 139.

    E.

    Well it looks like she has to write a letter of apology though. NYT:
    “Ms. Powell, 68, who appeared in a downtown Atlanta courtroom, was sentenced to six years of probation for conspiracy to commit intentional interference of election duties.
    She was also fined $6,000 and agreed to pay $2,700 restitution to the state of Georgia, as well as write an apology letter to its citizens.”

  141. 141.

    sab

    @E.: Probation isn’t fun. Your probation officer can really make life miserable. And six years of it is a long time.

  142. 142.

    sdhays

    @jonas: He’s supposedly so broke his business is in danger of shutting down and he can’t pay his lawyers anymore, but he can hobnob with rightwing media personalities on a private jet, apparently.

    You don’t understand. “Private jet” is what he calls his ’93 Chevy Lumina.

  143. 143.

    Juju

    @E.: Jeeze, she should have to pay more than she would for a junker car. It should be at least the cost of a reliable used car.

  144. 144.

    Kent

    This is all good folks.  Eyes on the prize.

    The more defendants plead out, the more Trump is going to be standing alone when he comes to trial next year.

    More importantly, the worse Trump’s defense is going to be if the bulk of his co-defendants in the conspiracy have all stated under oath that (1) yes there was a conspiracy, (2) they were guilty of it, and (3) here in our own words is how it worked.

    I think each defendant who pleas also puts pressure on the rest.  Because who wants to be the last man standing next to Trump?

    Unfortunately for Trump, he can’t really take a plea and still run for office.  At least not very easily.  He has to fight it out until the end.  But none of his the co-defendants are in that same pickle.

  146. 146.

    smith

    @Kent: Also, the fewer defendants, the sooner TFG’s trial in GA can be scheduled. If we’re lucky, we’ll have both the DC trial and TFG’s GA trial completed before the election.

  147. 147.

    zhena gogolia

    Of course my husband didn’t know who she was. Even “Zoom lady with Diet Coke?” didn’t help. Forget about “Release the kraken.” I tried to find a video of it, but they’re all too long, so I hit upon Cecily Strong’s parody. Did the trick.

  149. 149.

    piratedan

    all I know is that this covers only Georgia.  Is Powell under indictment for any other perfidy?  I can imagine that AG’s in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Wisconsin might be very interested in her testimony as well.  IIRC, Georgia was just one of many where they attempted their alternate electors scheme.

  150. 150.

    wjca

    For anyone who has issues with their blood pressure: reserve judgement until Powell testifies.  Then, and only then, will we know what she had to bargain with.  At that point, we can pick between

    1. She got a sweetheart deal, and should have got jail time!  And lots of it.
    2. Wow!  She totally nailed TIFG, and a whole bunch of other scum as well.

    Until then, we’ve got nothing but speculation and wild ass guesses.

  151. 151.

    trollhattan

    While pleading out to a misdemeanor seems very hand-slappy for treasoning, I shall leave this refreshing amuse bouche:

    Dominion has sued Powell for defamation, seeking $1.3 bn (£1.7 bn) in restitution.

    I’m sure she has Rupert Murdoch on speed dial.

  153. 153.

    piratedan

    @wjca: culled from LGF (Little Green Footballs)

    Here’s what she copped to (pled/pleaded/admitted)

    She entered a plea deal admitting to all of the crimes alleged.

    [Embedded content]

    Mind you, she admitted to counts 1, 32-37.

    VIOLATION OF THE GEORGIA RICO
    (RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT ORGANIZATIONS) ACT O.C.G.A. 16144(c)
    CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT ELECTION FRAUD
    O.C.G.A. §§ 21-2603 21-2-566
    CONSPIRACY TO CONIMIT ELECTION FRAUD
    O.C.G.A. §§ 21-2-603 21-2-574
    CONSPIRACY To COMMIT COMPUTER THEFT O.C.G.A. §§ 1648 16993(a)
    CONSPIRACY TO COMlVIIT COMPUTER TRESPASS O.C.G.A. §§ 16-4-8 16-9-93(b)
    CONSPIRACY TO COMIVIIT COMPUTER INVASION OF PRIVACY O.C.G.A. §§ 16-4-8 169-93(c) CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD TIE STATE O.C.G.A. 16-1021

    Also charged under count 1 – Trump, Rudy, Eastman, Meadows, Clark, Ellis, Chesebro, etc. That’s the key here.

    Counts 32-37 involve smaller fry:
    Latham, Hall, Hayes.

    h/t to LGF commenter Lawhawk

  154. 154.

    LordAvebury

    Will this get her disbarred? Probably not. From emptywheel (which you should all be reading):

    No. Because if she succeeds, it’ll be stripped from her record (but not until 6 years from now). And she and Scott Hall both asked that these not count as crimes of moral turpitude (I imagine he wants to get his bail bondsman business back).

  158. 158.

    Betty

    @jonas: I am not having any problem with my Fire. I do get the “not wanting to get out of bed to get to the PC” thing. Happy mine is working okay.

  159. 159.

    Ruckus

    @E.:

    The difference is the size of the overall crime. And what TPTB are willing to give up to move up the ladder of criminals. A one person situation has almost nothing to give up because you have nothing to trade. A situation of the size of the one under discussion has a few much higher rungs up the ladder and like all ladders, if you cut off the bottom rung, everyone above falls, at least some amount. It still doesn’t change that the highest person has a lot farther to fall. Especially on a ladder this high up.

  160. 160.

    cmorenc

    If Powell’s plea deal results in enough damning testimony to assure Trump’s conviction, I say that’s good enough to at least temporarily make her an angel, albeit a flightless one with coal-tarry wings.

  161. 161.

    Freemark

    @Kristine: Pretty sure it has to do with IOS 17.03. I started problems right after upgrading. Having problems on other websites too. DailyKos for example.

  162. 162.

    E.

    @Ruckus: It’s not that I do not understand what is happening here. I do. It’s that when people say, “Keep your eyes on the prize,” I have always considered Powell to be a very big part of that prize. She was an extremely public figure, constantly on FOX and all the rest of them peddling her lies. I am a patriot. I will fight for this country and its democracy. People like Sydney Powell are the ones I regard myself to be fighting.

  163. 163.

    evodevo

    @Mr. Bemused Senior: ​
      Not THAT crazy…when being deposed in the Dominion case, her excuse was that nobody who was rational would believe the lies she told about election fraud (!!!) So, when the chips are down, and perjury penalties are in play, suddenly she becomes truthful LOL. I expect we’ll see the same in this circumstance …

  164. 164.

    evodevo

    @Gin & Tonic:

      Well, the original quote was “hang’d”, so…
    “As good be hang’d for [stealing] an old sheep as a young lamb.” John Ray (1627– 1705)

  165. 165.

    Ruckus

    @Tom Levenson:

    Sure, jail time would be nice, but giving up this level of the rest of this shit show is a pretty big deal. Chesebro won’t even give up the time of day.

  166. 166.

    Ruckus

    @E.:

    It’s not cut and dried. Sure she’s involved. Sure she’s guilty. Sure she’s getting off easy. This is a massive criminal mess. The first to give up in this level of criminal activity always gets off easier – because they give in first. That gives the case a substantial boost and she gets a reward for that – a lower sentence. The law wants the boss, the head of the enterprise, the hardest to catch and penalize. The more evidence they have when they get there, the better. She is that first step. And possibly smarter than many of the others who seem to think that they did NOTHING wrong. But she’s first to see the writing on the wall, the floor, the ceiling, the bars and recognize that doing what she is doing is a hell of a lot better for her than hanging on. Because she’ surely was not going to get one micron of help from those higher up in this quagmire than she was.

  167. 167.

    Burnspbesq

    @smith:

    I’ll take the other side of the bet on Trump’s use of an advice-of-counsel defense.

    It would be absolute insanity. An advice-of-counsel defense is a subject matter waiver of attorney client privilege. All the advice from all the lawyers becomes fair game, and the testimony of Cippolone, Philbin, and Barr will be used to show that it was unreasonable for Trump to rely on the advice he was getting from Eastman and Powell.

    That’s why the Special Counsel has asked Judge Chutkan to make Trump shit or get off the pot. They want time to prepare.

  168. 168.

    Burnspbesq

    @LordAvebury:

    The disciplinary authorities will decide for themselves whether her crimes involve moral turpitude. Nothing the court or Willis do will tie their hands.

  170. 170.

    Brachiator

    @Burnspbesq:

    I’ll take the other side of the bet on Trump’s use of an advice-of-counsel defense.

    Might be a long dead thread, but I was curious.

    Trump sometimes seems to ignore his counsel, and even amps up the idea that this is just political persecution that he can ignore and will soon escape from.

    Sometimes his counsel seems to make dumb mistakes or to be unprepared.

    Maybe it’s a dumb question, and I don’t mind being dumb. But is this kind of behavior unusual for a person who has been charged with the things that Trump has been charged with?

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