ATLANTA (AP) — Scott Hall, one of 18 defendants charged along with former President Donald Trump for allegedly influencing the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia, pleaded guilty Friday.
Hall is the first defendant to enter a plea in the case.
Under an agreement with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ office, Hall pleaded guilty to five misdemeanors and will be sentenced to five years probation if he abides by the terms of the agreement. He also agreed to testify at relevant trials and proceedings related to the massive 41-count indictment that was unsealed in August.
Scott Hall.Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
“Are you aware that the condition of your probation in this sentence is that you testify truthfully in all subsequent court proceedings, including trials against co-defendants named in the original indictment in which you were charged?” the DA’s office asked Hall during a hearing Friday afternoon before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.
Hall pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy to intentionally interfere with the conduct of an election.
Hall, 59, is a bail bondsman who was charged in early 2021 in connection with an election system violation in Coffee County, Georgia. He was also the first of the 19 defendants charged in the case to surrender last month.
The indictment also names former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, who was involved in the Coffee County conspiracy and who is scheduled to go to trial on those charges in late October. Powell pleaded not guilty.
The indictment accused Hall of numerous crimes: violating the Georgia RICO Act; two counts of conspiracy to commit election fraud; conspiracy to commit computer theft; computer misuse conspiracy; conspiracy to commit computer invasion of privacy; and conspiracy to defraud the state.
Under the terms of the plea deal, Hall must also write a letter of apology to the state for his behavior, pay a $5,000 fine, perform 200 hours of community service and provide a recorded statement to the DA’s office, which he has already done.
A spokesman for the DA’s office declined to comment on the plea deal. An attorney for Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In another court hearing Friday, U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones rejected requests from former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and three so-called “alternative voters” to move their cases to federal court. The four were among 19 people charged last month in Fulton County.
Clark had argued that he was acting in his federal capacity when he asked Justice Department leaders to intervene in the 2020 election. He allegedly urged then-acting U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to send an official Department of Justice letter to Georgia’s governor and legislative leaders on December 28 that said the DOJ had “identified significant concerns affecting the election outcome in several cases.” States may have influenced, including…”the state of Georgia.”
Rosen refused to do so despite pressure from Trump — who had threatened to fire him and replace him with Clark — because the Justice Department had found no evidence of significant fraud.
The DA’s office determined that Clark’s duties at the Justice Department were unrelated to election fraud and alleged that Clark exceeded his authority.
At a hearing on the issue this month, a lawyer for Clark suggested – but did not explicitly state – that Clark was working at Trump’s direction.
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In his ruling Friday, Jones noted that “Clark has presented no evidence that the Dec. 28 letter was written as part of his role at the Justice Department.”
“To the contrary, the evidence before the court suggests the opposite: Clark’s role in the Civil Division did not include a role in investigating or monitoring state elections,” the judge wrote, rejecting his attempt to delay the case.
An attorney for Clark did not respond to a request for comment.
In separate rulings on Friday, Jones also rejected similar requests from defendants David Shafer, Shawn Still and Cathy Latham, who served as electors for Trump in 2020 in Georgia. The indictment says the three, who pleaded not guilty, “unlawfully and falsely represented themselves as duly elected and qualified presidential electors of the state of Georgia” even though Joe Biden won the state.
The three defendants argued that they were carrying out federal duties in their roles as voters and that their case should therefore be heard in federal court. Jones disagreed.
“In summary, the Court concludes that the presidential electors or the Republican-nominated presidential electors in this case are not federal officials,” the judge wrote in one of his rulings.
“Even if voters perform federal functions, when they come together and cast their votes, that is not enough to make someone a federal official. A different finding would turn all citizens who can lawfully vote into federal employees when they cast their votes for the U.S. House of Representatives,” Jones wrote.
William Cromwell, a lawyer for Latham, said: “We plan to appeal this decision.”
Craig Gillen, an attorney for Shafer, said he was reviewing the decision and declined to comment. An attorney for Still did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.
The judge this month rejected a similar offer from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Meadows is appealing the verdict.
In a statement of claim filed Thursday, Trump’s lawyers said the former president would not seek to bring his election interference charges in Georgia to federal court.
Trump had previously suggested in a court filing that he might seek to move his case to a federal court location.
“This decision is based on his reasonable belief that this honorable court intends to fully and completely protect his constitutional right to a fair trial and to guarantee him due process throughout the prosecution of his case in the Supreme Court of Fulton County, Georgia “,” Trump lawyer Steven Sadow wrote in a letter to McAfee.
