‘Fake Electors’ Who Claimed Trump Won Michigan Charged With Crimes
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on Tuesday that 16 individuals who posed as electors and falsely claimed that President Donald Trump won Michigan in the 2020 election have been charged with crimes. This marks the first time any of these individuals have faced charges related to their involvement in the fraudulent scheme.
The accused persons include Republican National Committeewoman Kathy Berden, William (Hank) Choate, Amy Facchinello, Clifford Frost, Stanley Grot, John Haggard, Mary-Ann Henry, Timothy King, Michele Lundgren, Meshawn Maddock (former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party), James Renner, Mayra Rodriguez, Rose Rook, Marian Sheridan, Ken Thompson, and Kent Vanderwood.
According to Nessel’s office, all 16 individuals have been charged with multiple felonies for their participation in the false electors scheme after the 2020 presidential election. The charges include conspiracy to commit forgery, forgery, conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing, uttering and publishing, conspiracy to commit election law forgery, and election law forgery. These charges carry maximum sentences of up to 14 years in prison for some counts and up to 5 years for others.
The group of fake electors from Michigan consisted of current and former state GOP officials, a Republican National Committee member, a sitting mayor, a school board member, and Trump supporters who were involved in a baseless lawsuit attempting to overturn the 2020 election results.
Nessel stated in a video release that the plan to reject the voters’ will and undermine democracy was fraudulent and legally groundless. Michigan was one of the seven battleground states where the Trump campaign employed fake electors as part of their strategy to disrupt the Electoral College process and potentially influence the certification of the election results in Congress.
On December 14, 2020, the 16 fake GOP electors met in Lansing and signed certificates falsely declaring Trump as the winner of Michigan. Their attempt to deliver the documents to the statehouse was unsuccessful, as they were intercepted by police. This incident occurred while the authentic group of Democratic electors was meeting inside the building. Joe Biden won Michigan by a margin of over 154,000 votes.
Although the Trump campaign believed these fake electors could replace Biden’s electors during the counting of the electoral votes on January 6, 2021, many legal experts, including those within the Trump White House and campaign, viewed this plan as unconstitutional and possibly illegal.
Nessel, initially referring the matter to federal prosecutors, reopened the state investigation in January. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is also actively investigating the fake electors plot, with some of them providing testimony to his grand jury.
Nessel emphasized that the charges are not politically motivated, but rather based on overwhelming evidence of guilt. She also mentioned that the House January 6 committee uncovered evidence of Trump’s knowledge and direct discussions about the plan with RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who hails from Michigan.
In the accompanying video, Nessel once again refuted claims of election fraud and emphasized that Michigan’s election procedures were consistent with previous presidential elections. She condemned the alternative slates of Trump “electors” as an attempt to subvert the Electoral College process and award electoral votes against the will of the state’s voters.
While acknowledging that the defendants may have believed debunked myths of vote tampering or felt compelled to act out of loyalty to the president, Nessel asserted that none of these reasons justify violating the law and undermining the Constitution and the principles of representative government.
Nessel concluded by stating that her office will continue to investigate efforts to overturn the 2020 election and has not ruled out potential charges against additional defendants.
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