Michigan’s attorney general on Tuesday announced criminal charges against 16 people in a case related to Trump supporters trying to rig the state’s 2020 election results by assembling a false slate of Electoral College voters.
Each of the 16 defendants Accused Eight felony counts, including conspiracy to commit forgery, for allegedly signing documents falsely certifying the president and vice president as “duly elected and qualified voters” of Michigan.
“They were not duly elected and qualified voters, and each of the defendants knew it,” said Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat. In announcing the charges. “They took these steps in the hope and confidence that the electoral votes of Michigan’s 2020 election will be awarded to the candidate they choose instead of the candidate they actually chose.”
Among those charged was 55-year-old Meshawn Maddock, who became co-chairman of the Michigan Republican Party. Former President Donald J. Ms Maddock, who has close ties to Trump and is married to Matt Maddock, a state representative, accused Ms Nessel of a “personal vendetta”.
“It’s part of a nationally coordinated” effort to stop Mr Trump, he added.
Also charged were Republican National Committee member Cathy Berton, 70, and state party grassroots vice chair Marion Sheridan, 69, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Michigan charges were announced the same day Mr Trump said he received another so-called targeting letter from Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating his efforts to retain power after losing the 2020 election. Jan. 6, 2021, Joseph R. The letter signals that Biden Jr. will be indicted in a federal case over those efforts, when mobs of Trump supporters besieged the Capitol to block his certification of victory.
Both investigations were conducted by Mr. That’s part of the calculation on the conspiracy theories that Trump and his allies have put forth about the election.
Outside of Michigan, then-president Mr. Trump’s supporters, Mr. In six other swing states, fake voters were tricked into thinking Biden had actually won. The plan was to create the illusion of controversy over which slates — the fake Trump or the real Biden — were legitimate, and have members of Congress and Vice President Mike Pence certify the fake Trump slates, handing the election to Mr. Trump against the will of voters.
One of those states, Georgia, Mr. It’s also the site of a separate criminal investigation involving Trump, who has pressed state officials to help him overturn his loss. Another investigation in Michigan, conducted by a special prosecutor, concerns a network of right-wing activists — including Matthew DePerno, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully against Ms. Nessel last year — suspected of tampering with voting machines in search of evidence of election fraud.
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