Pro-Trump Lawyer Spilling Details of Bonkers Oval Office Meeting To Prosecutors In Bombshell CNN Tapes

Pro-Trump Attorney-turned-Trump co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro spilled new details about then-President Donald Trump’s meetings with a parade of lawyers after the 2020 election in tapes exclusively obtained by CNN.

In October, Chesebro pled guilty to the charges against him in the Georgia election crimes case brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. His plea of guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents allowed him to avoid jail time.

But in CNN reporter Marshall Cohen’s exclusive on the tapes, Chesebro told election crimes prosecutors in Michigan about the advice Trump was given in December of 2020. He’s cooperating with probes in Michigan and Wisconsin investigating the fake electors plot.

Cohen played the tapes on Wednesday’s edition of The Lead, and explained their significance to anchor Jake Tapper:

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: So, Marshall, we’re talking about Kenneth Chesebro, the Wisconsin attorney, what happened in his interview with prosecutors and in the Oval Office?

MARSHALL COHEN: Well, he told prosecutors about what he called a photo op gone wrong. In the Oval Office in December 2020, go back to that hectic time. At that moment, Trump’s team in Wisconsin had just lost their election challenge. And the lawyers who led that case were in D.C. for a meet and greet with their client. Before they walked into the Oval Office, they were told, do not give him false hope, do not indulge the conspiracies about the election.

Some of them listened. Some of them didn’t. Here is a clip from Ken Chesebro describing what the lead attorney in Wisconsin, Jim Troupis, told Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNETH CHESEBRO: It’s clear that Troupis personally told the president there was zero hope for Wisconsin. As part of this message, I think, crafted to try to get him to concede or just you know, give up this long shot challenge. So, there was a conscious effort to deflect him from a sense of any possibility that he could pull out the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: Zero hope. That’s what he said. So, look, some people around Trump told him that he couldn’t win. And he went on tried to overturn the election anyway. That’s a huge part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s criminal case. That indictment is filled to the brim with examples of Trump being told by advisers and lawyers that he lost. This Oval Office meeting was not in the indictment, so it builds on the existing case, the existing evidence against Trump.

TAPPER: And you also say that another part of the audio reveals something that could possibly help Donald Trump’s defense. Tell us about that.

COHEN: Yes, that’s when Chesebro started talking in the meeting with Donald Trump. Again, remember, he was told don’t give trump any hope. Once the conversation moved to Arizona, he did just that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHESEBRO: So, I ended up explaining that Arizona was still hypothetically possible, because the alternate electors voted. And I explained the whole logic. Because the alternate electors had voted, we had more time to win the litigation. So, it was, I think, clear in a way that maybe hadn’t been before that we had till January 6 to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, he brought up January 6, brought up the fake electors. He told Trump that there was still a viable path to keep contesting the election. This was immediately met with fallout, Reince Priebus who helped arrange the meeting because of his Wisconsin connections in the White House.

TAPPER: Former RNC chairman and the former White House Chief of Staff, yes.

COHEN: Exactly. He helped arrange the meeting. He was in the room. He was livid. Listen to Chesebro describing Priebus’s reaction

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHESEBRO: Right after the meeting, Troupis said that Reince Priebus was extremely concerned with what I told the president about Arizona and about the real deadline be January 6, and that he was going to do damage control, Reince was going to follow up. And, I mean, I was trying to mitigate whatever optimist I guess I created.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, some people told Trump he lost. Some people told Trump he could keep fighting. We all know which path he chose, which of course, ended with the insurrection here in Washington.

TAPPER: Yes, also ended up with Kenneth Chesebro getting indicted.

COHEN: And Trump.

TAPPER: And Donald Trump.

Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.