Kenneth Chesebro, the ex-attorney for former President Donald Trump, told investigators he did not have any social media presence or alternate IDs he used on social media, but a CNN investigation found he had a private Twitter account where he “promoted a far more aggressive election subversion strategy” than he shared with investigators.
Kenneth Chesebro speaks to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee during a hearing where ... [+]
Chesebro—a Trump lawyer who was involved in creating a fake electors scheme allegedly designed to overturn the 2020 election results—reportedly distanced himself from schemes to overturn the election when talking to investigators in Michigan, but didn’t mention his alternate Twitter account on which he posted a number of things that contradicted what he told investigators, CNN exclusively reported Monday.
Chesebro met with Michigan investigators due to his role in the fake elector scheme, which he has been considered the leader of after a memo revealed he laid out the plan for GOP electors in six swing states to cast new ballots for Trump and send them to Washington for congressional certification.
Chesebro told investigators he didn’t use Twitter, but CNN linked him to the account “BadgerPundit,” which regularly tweeted about the electoral college process and how Trump could win a second term—and Chesebro’s lawyers confirmed to CNN the account was his.
A WordPress website for “BadgerPundit” on the WayBack Machine shows a picture of Trump and says that the pundit chronicles “farce, folly, and fiasco in progressive politics” and that his “work contains occasional hints of having progressed beyond a left-wing Wisconsin public high school education.”
Audio obtained by CNN indicated that Chesebro contradicted himself in his interview with investigators when he said he saw the alternate elector plan as a last resort, but the BadgerPundit page showed he was actually tweeting details of how the plan could work even if Trump didn’t win his legal battles.
Forbes has reached out to representatives for Chesebro, though one of his lawyer’s told CNN the account was not Chesebro “being the lawyer he is” or giving legal advice, but rather was “this guy over there, just being a goof.”
“Trump doesn’t have to get courts to declare him the winner of the vote. He just needs to convince Republican legislatures that the election was systematically rigged, but it’s impossible to run it again, so they should appoint electors instead,” Chesebro said as BadgerPundit in 2020, according to the WayBack Machine. The tweet directly contradicted what Chesebro told investigators though, according to audio obtained by CNN, when he said: “I saw no scenario where Pence could count any vote for any state because there hadn’t been a court or a legislature in any state backing any of the alternate electors.”
Whether Michigan will bring perjury charges against Chesebro. Chesebro doesn’t currently face any charges in Michigan, where he cooperated with law enforcement by giving interviews, but could face legal trouble if he lied to investigators. Forbes has reached out to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office for comment.
- That’s at least how many times Chesebro tweeted as BadgerPundit saying that Pence was able to count electors benefitting Trump, according to the CNN analysis of his account, which used the WayBack Machine.
Chesebro is often considered the leader of the “fake electors” scheme to get Trump elected after he lost the 2020 election. He laid out a plan in a December 2020 memo—reported by the New York Times—in which GOP electors in six swing states would cast new ballots for Trump and send them to Washington for congressional certification as though Trump had been elected. In the memo, Chesebro reportedly said he was “not necessarily advising” the strategy be used, adding “there are many factors,” but he also wrote “it seems feasible that the Trump campaign can prevent Biden from amassing 270 electoral votes” during the certification. Chesebro has not been indicted in special counsel Jack Smith’s case against Trump for election interference—though he is believed to be an unnamed co-conspirator in the case. He was indicted and took a plea deal in Fulton County’s case against Trump and 18 others for election interference in Georgia. He has also spoken to investigators in Wisconsin and Arizona, CNN reported, and he was not charged in Nevada’s investigation.
Chesebro’s lawyers reportedly told CNN they should have “asked for clarity” when investigators asked him if he used Twitter, and said they have since “all the information on BadgerPundit” to states investigating claims in which Chesebro’s involved.