Trump ally pleads guilty to trying to interfere in elections

Scott Hall, one of the 19 defendants in the 2020 election interference case in the US state of Georgia, pleaded guilty on Friday (September 29, 2023) to 5 criminal charges. Hall made a deal with Fulton County prosecutors in the United States.

He becomes the first of the defendants to plead guilty in the case that alleges that former President Donald Trump and allies engaged in a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election.

As part of the deal, Hall agreed to testify in future proceedings related to the case. He was sentenced to 5 years probation, 200 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine.

Prosecutors say Hall was responsible for making copies of sensitive election data, including ballots and hard drives.

UNDERSTAND THE CASE

Former US President Donald Trump was formally charged on August 14 for trying to change the result of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The election was won by the Democrat and current US president, Joe Biden.

In a document, the indictment details 41 alleged infractions, 13 of which were attributed to Trump, to reverse his defeat. Crimes investigated include forgery and extortion. Here is the full document (PDF – 2 MB, in English).

The investigations began in February 2021, after a call between Trump and the secretary of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, who is also responsible for the electoral process in the state, was leaked.

In the conversation, the former president asks Raffensperger to find 12,000 more votes so that he can win the election. “Trump and the other defendants refused to accept that Trump lost and knowingly and intentionally joined a conspiracy to illegally change the outcome of the election in Trump’s favor,” says the prosecution.

To win the presidential election in the United States, you need to obtain 270 delegates to the Electoral College. In 2020, Biden had 306 delegates and Trump, 232. With 16 delegates, Georgia – which had not given a majority to a Democratic president since Bill Clinton in 1992 – went to Biden’s side by a difference of less than 12,000 votes.