A bail bondsman who faced charges alongside former President Donald Trump and 17 others has become the first defendant in the Georgia election interference case to agree to a plea deal with prosecutors.
Scott Hall entered a guilty plea in court on Friday, admitting to five counts of conspiracy to interfere with the proper conduct of elections, all misdemeanors. He had been accused of involvement in tampering with election equipment in rural Coffee County.
As part of the plea deal, Hall will serve five years of probation and has agreed to provide testimony in upcoming proceedings.
While Hall is considered a minor figure in the indictment filed last month, which outlined a broad effort to overturn President Joe Biden's victory and maintain Trump in power, his plea deal represents a significant development in the case. It's also seen as a victory for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is pursuing an unprecedented racketeering case against a former president.
Earlier on Friday, a judge rejected a request by former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark to transfer the Georgia election subversion charges against him from state court to federal court.
U.S. District Judge Steve Jones clarified that he was not rendering a judgment on the merits of the charges but determined that federal court lacked jurisdiction over the case. He asserted that the case's ultimate outcome would be decided by a Fulton County judge and fact-finder.
Previously, Judge Jones had denied a similar request from Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff. He is currently evaluating the same request from three Georgia Republicans who falsely certified Trump's victory in 2020.
The practical implications of moving the case to federal court would have included a broader jury pool, potentially leaning more conservative than Fulton County alone, and a trial without photography or television coverage, as federal courtrooms prohibit cameras.
However, such a transfer would not have allowed Trump, if reelected in 2024, or any other president to issue pardons, as any convictions would still be based on state law.
According to the indictment, Clark authored a letter after the election claiming that the Justice Department had "identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple States, including the State of Georgia."
He requested senior department officials to sign and forward the letter to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and state legislative leaders. The indictment alleges that Clark knew this statement to be false at the time.
The judge noted that Clark had provided no evidence demonstrating that his actions were within the scope of his responsibilities at the Justice Department when he drafted the letter in December 2020, falsely claiming the DOJ's investigation into voter irregularities.
Chandler Jones found himself in Las Vegas police custody on Thursday night, just a day after his peculiar social media outbursts and erratic behavior. See detailed story here
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