Trump aides’ chaotic struggle to handle him with kid gloves in 2020 election briefing revealed

Kenneth Chesebro says ex-Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus ‘was going to do damage control … to mitigate whatever optimism I guess I created’

One of the many lawyers present at the White House towards the end of Donald Trump’s presidency told him in a December 2020 meeting that he still had a chance to win, giving the outgoing commander-in-chief false hope ahead of what would become the January 6 Capitol riot.

Former Trump-connected attorney Kenneth Chesebro has reached a plea deal with Georgia prosecutors after he was part of a plot to overturn President Joe Biden’s win in the state – the first Democrat to win Georgia on the presidential level since Bill Clinton in 1992.

Chesebro has now been working with the prosecution regarding what has become known as the “fake elector” plot to keep Mr Trump in the White House.

Recordings obtained by CNN of Chesebro meeting with Michigan prosecutors have revealed that he falsely told Mr Trump at a meeting in the Oval Office in December 2020 that he could still win. Chesebro told the then-president that he could overturn the results with a plan to enlist Trump allies to stand as “alternate” electors in states he lost who could certify him as the victor despite Mr Biden’s win in both the Electoral College and the popular vote.

“There was a conscious effort to deflect him from a sense of any possibility that he could pull out the election,” Chesebro told the Michigan prosecutors, the recordings show. “Our marching orders were ‘Don’t say anything that makes him feel more positive than the beginning of the meeting.’”

But Chesebro deviated from that plan when he told Mr Trump that “Arizona was still hypothetically possible because the alternate electors had voted”. He noted that similar possibilities existed in six other states where “alternate electors” had been assembled.

He added that he was explaining to the then-president, “in a way that maybe it hadn’t been before, that we had until January 6 to win”.

“And that, you know, created a real problem,” he added.

The lawyers supportive of Mr Trump were attending a photo-op with Mr Trump in the Oval Office before which they were told that they weren’t supposed to get Mr Trump’s hopes up, according to CNN.

But the upbeat perspective shared by Chesebro quickly created problems by once again allowing Mr Trump to believe that he could stay in office even as that possibility had passed. The former chairman of the RNC and ex-Trump White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus left that meeting “extremely concerned” about what was said regarding January 6, CNN noted. He later told Chesebro not to share what happened with anyone.

Chesebro shared his perspective on what happened with the Michigan prosecutors last week.

The state attorney general in Michigan has charged the 16 GOP electors in the state who case fake ballots in Lansing, with all but one pleading not guilty – one had his charges dropped after striking a deal to cooperate.

Chesebro referred to the 16 December 2020 meeting as a “photo-op … gone south”. The attorney revealed a new instance of Mr Trump being told directly that he lost the election – which could become an issue in his federal election subversion trial – and it reveals how those around him fueled his baseless hopes of remaining in power.

At the meeting in question, Mr Trump did what he often does – he focused on what he wanted to believe, taking to heart what Chesebro said and ignoring anyone saying that he lost.

Mr Priebus, from Wisconsin, had arranged the photo-op for a delegation from his home state and stepped in when he spotted Chesebro speaking in hushed tones to Mr Trump about election procedures, according to CNN.

Chesebro told the Michigan prosecutors that Mr Priebus “was going to do damage control … to mitigate whatever optimism I guess I created”.

Attorney Jim Troupis told Mr Trump during the meeting that their efforts to overturn the results in Wisconsin had failed and that there was no path forward there.

He later sent an email to Chesebro, stating “Reince was very explicit in his admonition that nothing about our meeting with the President can be shared with anyone. The political cross-currents are deep and fast and neither you or I have any ability to swim through them”.

The Washington Post previously reported on the meeting.

Mr Chesebro told Michigan prosecutors that former Trump lawyer and ex-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani “was pushing the idea of alternate electors very strongly”.

“It’s clear that Troupis personally, told the president there was zero hope for Wisconsin,” Chesebro said. “Part of this message, I think, [was] crafted to try to get him to concede or just you know, give up this long-shot challenge.”

The Independent has attempted to reach Chesebro, Mr Giuliani, Mr Priebus, Mr Troupis, and Mr Trump for comment.