Trump co-defendant in Georgia election conspiracy trial pleads guilty

A co-defendant of Donald Trump pleaded guilty Friday in a case alleging a  criminal conspiracy to overturn the former US president's 2020 election loss in the state of Georgia.

Scott Hall, 59, was indicted in August along with Trump and 17 others by a Fulton County grand jury.

Hall, a bail bondsman, is the first defendant charged in the sprawling racketeering case to plead guilty.

He originally faced seven felony charges including racketeering, conspiracy to commit computer fraud and conspiracy to defraud the state.

He pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to interfere with the performance of election duties at a live-streamed hearing on Friday before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee.

Hall was sentenced to five years of probation, a $5,000 fine and 200 hours of community service.

He also agreed to write a letter of apology to the citizens of Georgia and to testify at the upcoming trials of other co-defendants in the case.

Hall and several other co-defendants were charged with tampering with voting machines in Coffee County, Georgia, following the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, and the other co-defendants in the case have pleaded not guilty to charges of involvement in a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, where Biden won by some 12,000 votes.

The twice-impeached former president also faces federal charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and is to go on trial in that case in Washington in March 2024. 

cl/acb