'Trump should be very concerned': Legal experts react to Sidney Powell’s bombshell guilty plea

19 October 2023

On Thursday, October 19 in an Atlanta courtroom, attorney Sidney Powell entered a guilty plea in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' election interference case. CNN's Marshall Cohen reports that prosecutors are "recommending a sentence of six years probation" for Powell — not prison — and that she "will also be required to testify at future trials and write an apology letter to the citizens of Georgia."

Legal experts and journalists were quick to respond to the news.

On MSNBC, legal analyst Rubin commented, "This is absolutely huge." And Rubin stressed that for Willis' office, Powell "value" is "her ability to testify against others."

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

Also on MSNBC, former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade said, "Donald Trump should be very concerned…. Donald Trump has to be alarmed."

Powell entered the guilty plea only one day before her trial was set to begin, and MSNBC's Blayne Alexander observed, "When you look at the timing of this, it's really stunning."

MSNBC legal analyst Catherine Christian — formerly of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office — predicted that more co-defendants in Willis' case will flip on Trump."

Christian said, "There will be, believe me, more defendants pleading guilty… (Powell) is very important to the prosecution."

Christian added that Powell's guilty plea was "a very smart move" on her part and that she "didn't want to serve time in a Georgia state prison."

X, formerly Twitter, has been inundated with reactions to Powell's guilty plea.

Former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks tweeted, "The beginning of the end. Sidney Powell pleaded guilty to 6 charges and will testify against others. She was the obvious next after 1st guilty plea was another involved in her specific part of overturning the election. More will fall soon."

Journalist Brian Krassenstein posted, "Will she release the Kracken on her co-conspirators? Signs point to YES. Remember that these are crimes, and crimes that she almost certainly did not merely act on outside of someone higher up asking her to."

Republicans Against Trump described Powell's plea deal as "terrible news for Donald Trump" and quoted CNN legal analyst Elie Honig, who stressed that Powell "was one of Donald Trump's closest loyalists."

According to Honig, "This is a major breakthrough for prosecutors, potentially a devastating development for Donald Trump, because what's going to happen now is Sidney Powell is going to testify for prosecutors in Georgia, and presumably she'll also be prepared to testify for Jack Smith in his federal case in Washington, D.C. She's not indicted in that case, but she's listed as a coconspirator in that case. She's going to be able to provide insider information that could be really devastating towards Donald Trump."

OccupyDemocrats' Grant Stern tweeted, "Sidney Powell just agreed to be STATE’S EVIDENCE and testify for the Fulton County DA as part of her guilty plea. Trump's RICO case is really Kraken now!"

Historian Christopher Candy said of Powell's plea, "This is what happens when you don't pay your underlings' legal bills.

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