Two allies of former President Donald Trump, attorneys Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, flipped against him last week, and pleaded guilty to crimes related to the Georgia election interference case.
"I think it's potentially very bad for the former president," said Andrew Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge and host of the "Judging Freedom" podcast. He was speaking on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
"First of all, it came out of the blue. They both pleaded guilty literally on the eve of their joint trial. The trial was to begin today. Sidney Powell pleaded on Thursday and Kenny Chesebro pleaded on Friday."
"Chesebro is very dangerous for the president," Judge Napolitano told Newmax. "He's going to be a witness not only in the Georgia case, but in the Jan. 6 federal case. He was present as one of the former president's lawyers at all of the critical meetings in the White House, in November and December of 2020, and January 2021.
"There's no attorney-client privilege here, so we really don't know what he's going to say. But he's already told the prosecutors what he's going to say and whatever it was, it was good enough for them to drop five of the six charges against him and accept the guilty plea to one of them."
The conversation with Judge Napolitano then turned to President Joe Biden's purchase of a luxury home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for which he paid cash.
The House Oversight Committee released information that showed the payment, in the form of a personal check for $200,000, from James and Sara Biden to Joe Biden.
The payment occurred in 2018, after the president's brother, James Biden, received $200,000 from a company called Americore. "James has long been criticized for raw influence peddling, and Americore was one of the companies where he had reportedly suggested access to sell to his brother," The Hill reported.
"On March 1, 2018, Americore wired James the money to his personal rather than his business account. On the very same day, James wrote a check in that same amount to the personal bank account of his brother Joe, who had left office as Vice President and was widely discussed as a possible candidate for the presidency," The Hill reported.
James listed the money as a "loan repayment."
"Even if Joe Biden did loan almost a quarter of a million dollars to his brother, it would raise concerns over whether this disbursement came while he was vice president," The Hill observed.
"Politically this is disastrous for the president," Judge Napolitano said. "He has said time and again that he had nothing to do with his son and brother's business dealings. This was probably a gift from the brother, James Biden.
"If it was a gift, it was lawful unless there's a quid pro quo. That is, unless Joe Biden as the vice president of the United States pulled a lever of government power, exercised official government power on behalf of the people paying his brother, who then paid him the check.
"If Joe Biden did something for the people who paid the brother, that's a bribe."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
Peter Malbin ✉
Peter Malbin, a Newsmax writer, covers news and politics. He has 30 years of news experience, including for the New York Times, New York Post and Newsweek.com.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.