CNN Cameras Capture Trump Co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro with Alex Jones at the Capitol on January 6
Aug. 18 2023, Published 5:45 p.m. ET
Multiple CNN cameras caught Kenneth Chesebro, accused mastermind of the 2020 fake electors plot, at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Chesebro was at the center of DOJ special counsel Jack Smith's election interference indictment of ex-president Donald Trump. The Trump-aligned lawyer was most recently charged in Fulton County DA Fani Willis' election interference indictment of the former commander-in-chief as one of his 17 co-conspirators.
After being named a co-defendant in Willis' indictment, CNN released an exclusive KFile of footage taken on January 6, when a mob of thousands of Trump supporters seized the Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of votes.
In the KFile from correspondents Andrew Kaczynski, Em Steck, and Yahya Abou-Ghazala, Chesebro is seen multiple times throughout the day with Jones, who heavily pushed election fraud conspiracy theories on The Alex Jones Show.
Footage caught Chesebro and Jones mingling with the crowd that gathered to hear Trump speak at the Stop the Steal rally.
When Chesebro was previously questioned by the January 6 House Select Committee on his whereabouts that day as well as the first week of January, the lawyer invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and did not specify his location.
While Chesebro pled the Fifth, the CNN footage served as damning evidence of his alleged involvement in the Capitol insurrection.
In the footage, Chesebro blended in with the crowd. He's seen wearing Trump's notorious red "Make America Great Again" baseball cap, a black coat, and jeans. Despite his inconspicuous look, a review of footage placed him at various locations on Capitol grounds.
The Trump associate was said to have followed around Jones for about an hour on January 6. While not named as a co-defendant in either indictment, Jones was a key figure in perpetuating conspiracy theories around the 2020 presidential election to his far-right base, which shared a great overlapped with Trump supporters.
CNN noted that their footage did not show Chesebro breaking into the Capitol or in any violent situations, which were plentiful that day. Nonetheless, the outlet said the footage "has placed him outside of the Capitol at the same time as his alleged plot to keep Trump in office unraveled inside it."
Chesebro was described as "the alleged architect of the scheme to subvert the 2020 Electoral College process by using fake GOP electors in multiple states."
Days after the November 2020 election, Chesebro drafted a memo to a Trump attorney that outlined the alleged fake electors' legal strategy the ex-president and his associates were accused of using. Chesebro's memo focused on January 6 as a day with "ultimate significance."