Scott Hall, one of former President Donald Trump’s (R) co-defendants in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ shotgun case against Trump, has agreed to a plea deal in that case. The terms of his deal

require[] Hall to testify against the other defendants, demand[] Hall pay a $5,000 fine, and receive five years of probation.

Willis’ charges against each of the 18 (now 17) co-defendants center on allegations under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. To be clear: Hall was one of those charged under RICO.

A RICO beef is a very serious one, a beef that on conviction involves prison terms of up to 20 years per racketeering count and/or fines up to $25,000.

Hall’s deal is a sweetheart deal second, these days, only to Hunter Biden’s erstwhile plea deal with then-ordinary prosecutor David Weiss. I have a question and a comment.

My question is a repeat of the headline of my article: did Hall sell his testimony in return for such a soft sanction for such a serious charge?

My comment is this: anyone who agrees to a plea deal is, in my opinion, an entirely untrustworthy witness. He either sold his testimony in return for a soft penalty, or he was brow-beaten into his testimony under threat of a much harsher penalty. The latter seems unlikely in Hall’s case, but under either of those alternatives, it seems to me that the witness won’t be speaking his own words on the witness stand but instead it would be the prosecutor speaking from the witness stand using the pled-out witness’ voice.