We Identified the Key Unnamed Figures in Jack Smith’s New Trump Brief
Shawn Musgrave The Intercept
Special counsel Jack Smith. (photo: AP)
Jack Smith’s latest brief redacts almost every name. We undid that for you.
On Wednesday, new evidence was filed in the federal case against former President Donald Trump over his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss. In a massive brief, special counsel Jack Smith offered a blow-by-blow of Trump’s many calls, tweets, and meetings with key figures like Rudy Giuliani and attorney John Eastman.
The 165-page document is a page-turner, but it can be hard to follow. Many names are redacted and replaced with pseudonyms like “CC1,” short for “Co-Conspirator 1,” and “P76,” short for “Person 76.”
We’re here to help. Below is the core cast of characters, plus some bit players who have received little attention until now.
CC1 — Rudy Giuliani
The brief introduces Giuliani as a “private attorney” who was “willing to falsely claim victory and spread knowingly false claims of election fraud.” Giuliani, who has since been disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C., is also notably bad at dialing phone numbers, the brief notes, including a misdial to one Michigan lawmaker and two U.S. senators. The brief also cites one of Trump’s tweets naming Giuliani.
CC2 — John Eastman
The brief describes Eastman as a “professor and lawyer” who represented Trump in various capacities. Earlier this year, a California judge ruled Eastman should be disbarred, which he is currently appealing. Eastman is identifiable through references to certain cases in which he represented Trump, plus references to his appearance on Steve Bannon’s podcast.
CC3 — Sidney Powell
The brief describes in detail Powell’s obsession with bogus theories about voting machines, plus Trump’s private views about her, including that Powell appeared “unhinged” at a press conference and that Tucker Carlson (“P51” in the brief) “eviscerated” her on Fox News. Powell took a plea deal last year in the Georgia election case and was sanctioned by federal courts, but she kept her Texas law license. The brief also cites one of Trump’s tweets naming Powell.
CC4 — N/A
There is no CC4 in the latest brief, likely thanks to the Supreme Court’s decision over the summer to grant Trump broad immunity for “official” acts. In the original indictment, Co-Conspirator 4 referred to Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department attorney who is currently facing disciplinary charges and is indicted along with Trump in Georgia.
CC5 — Ken Chesebro
The brief describes Chesebro as “an attorney who volunteered to assist” the Trump campaign “in lawsuits challenging the election in Wisconsin.” He’s identifiable based on the brief’s description of memos he drafted that laid the foundation for the fake elector strategy. Chesebro took a plea deal in the Georgia case last year and faces additional charges in Wisconsin. The brief emphasizes that on January 6, Chesebro “marched with the crowd to the Capitol” and “breached the restricted area surrounding the building.”
CC6 — Boris Epshteyn
The brief describes Epshteyn as a “private political operative” who communicated extensively with Giuliani and Eastman, including in texts that have been partially published. Like Giuliani and Eastman, Epshteyn can also be identified based on an appearance on Bannon’s podcast. The evening of January 6, he tracked down contact information for certain members of Congress that Trump directed Giuliani to call.
The Other Players
Besides the unindicted co-conspirators, there are dozens of other individuals left unidentified. Here are some of the most crucial.
P1 — Steve Bannon
The brief describes Bannon as “a private political advisor who had worked for the defendant’s 2016 presidential campaign,” and “who maintained a podcast that disseminated [Trump’s] false fraud claims.” References to certain podcast episode dates — including an infamous “climactic battle” quip — confirm Bannon’s identity.
P2 — Bill Stepien
The brief identifies Stepien by his title as Trump’s campaign manager.
P3 — Justin Clark
The brief describes Clark as Trump’s deputy campaign manager. Clark is identifiable via snippets from an email in which he wrote that the fake electors scheme had “morphed” into a “crazy play.” The Arizona fake electors indictment, which also names Clark, attributes this email to him.
P5 — Unconfirmed
The brief itself does not include identifying information for this key person, who — despite not having a “CC” moniker — is described as “a Campaign employee, agent, and co-conspirator.” Multiple outlets reported this is Mike Roman, who is currently facing charges in Arizona and Wisconsin. The brief alleges he “sought to create chaos” at polling places after the election, urging a colleague, “Make them riot.”
P9 — Eric Herschmann
The brief describes Herschmann as a “White House staffer” who “came to serve as a conduit for information” from Trump’s campaign to Trump. He’s identifiable via key biographical details, including that he started working as an assistant to the president in August 2020 and represented Trump during his first impeachment trial in January 2020. The brief fleshes out Herschmann’s attempts to tell Trump “the unvarnished truth about his Campaign legal team,” including by confronting Eastman about the fringe theories he was feeding Trump.
P12 — Jenna Ellis
The brief quotes one of Trump’s tweets praising Ellis by name.
P13 — Jared Kushner
The brief identifies him as Trump’s son-in-law.
P14 — Ivanka Trump
The brief identifies her as Trump’s daughter.
P21 — Mark Meadows
The brief identifies Meadows by his title as Trump’s chief of staff.
P26 — Chris Carr
The brief identifies Carr by his title as Georgia’s attorney general.
P27 — David Perdue
The brief quotes one of Trump’s tweets praising the former Georgia senator by name.
P39 — Ronna McDaniel
The brief identifies McDaniel by her title as former chair of the Republican National Committee.
P59 — Pat Cipollone
The brief identifies Cipollone by his title as White House counsel.
