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Wisconsin‘s attorney general on Tuesday filed felony charges against three people in connection with a 2020 scheme to submit a slate of fake electors in support of the former president. donald trump.
lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Jim Troupisas well as political operation roman michaelEach faces a charge of felony forgery for their role in the scheme, which involved signing official-looking paperwork claiming Trump won Wisconsin in 2020, even though he had narrowly lost.
The felony charges were filed Tuesday morning by the Attorney General. Josh Kaul in Dane County Circuit Court.
Chesebro is considered the mastermind behind the plot, which spread to multiple swing states that Trump had lost in the days after the 2020 presidential election. In a memo he sent to Troupis, who was then the Trump campaign’s lead lawyer in Wisconsin, laid out a strategy for using “alternative” electors to challenge election results.
Chesebro and Troupis recently settled a civil lawsuit related to their actions in Wisconsin.
In December, the 10 Wisconsin Republicans who signed the false election documents also settled that lawsuit, which alleged the plot helped pave the way for the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The fake electors did not admit wrongdoing, but said their actions were “part of an attempt to improperly overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.”
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The defendants in that case have said they were trying to preserve Trump’s legal options while court cases challenging the election results moved through the courts. Dozens of such cases in state and federal courts were dismissed or resolved in favor of the president. Joe BidenVictory in the disputed states on the battlefield.
Governor. Tony Evers responded to the news Tuesday with a one-word statement: “Good.”
Roman, the third person charged, is a former Trump campaign aide who was also charged in Trump’s federal election interference case in Georgia.
The three men are due in court on September 19, according to public court documents.
The false voters plan launched from Wisconsin
In addition to Wisconsin, charges related to fake voter schemes have also been filed in Arizona, Nevada, Michigan and Georgia.
Roman has been charged in both Arizona and Georgia, and Chesebro has pleaded guilty to the charges in Georgia.
However, the plot supposedly was born in Wisconsin, when Troupis and Chesebro used Wisconsin as a testing ground for a strategy that expanded to other battleground states.
The 10 Wisconsin Republicans who signed their names to the paperwork include the acting Wisconsin Elections Commissioner. Bob Spindell and former chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party andres hitt.
Hitt has alleged that the group was “duped” into believing they were providing a contingency for the Republican candidate should legal challenges be filed. He said they were following the advice of lawyers when they met on December 14, 2020, the constitutionally mandated day for state electors to cast their votes for the winner in a presidential race, and did not know they were part of a larger scheme. broad.
“It is now clear that those documents were used on January 6 to at least help create the chaos of that day,” he said in a December interview with WISN-TV.
Editor’s note: This story will be updated.
The charges filed against those involved in Wisconsin’s 2020 fake voter scheme were originally reported by Wisconsin Public Radio.
More about false voters
- Leaders of 2020 Wisconsin Fake Voter Scheme Charged with Felonies – Anya van Wagtendonk and Sarah Lehr – June 4, 2024
- Back in the news: Josh Kaul investigating fake voters? – Bruce Murphy – April 17, 2024
- Democratic proposal would prevent fake electors from serving as election officials – Anya van Wagtendonk – March 21, 2024
- Documents Suggest Trump’s Fake Elector Scheme Originated in Wisconsin – Rich Kremer – March 8, 2024
- Lawyers Who Conceived and Executed 2020 Fake Voter Scheme Agree Not to Participate in Similar Scheme in Any Future Presidential Election – Law Forward – March 4, 2024
- Former Wisconsin GOP chairman said he feared Trump supporters during fake elector scheme – Robert D’Andrea – February 19, 2024
- New call for Bob Spindell to resign from his electoral position – Anya van Wagtendonk – February 9, 2024
- Former Wisconsin GOP chair says fake electors were ‘deceived’ – Anya van Wagtendonk – December 19, 2023
- Back in the News: Ron Johnson Looks Dumb on KeynoteUSA – Bruce Murphy – December 13, 2023
- Secretary of State Godlewski Calls on Senator LeMahieu to Remove Robert Spindell Jr. from WEC for Submitting a Fraudulent Vote Certificate – Sarah Godlewski – December 11, 2023
Read more about false voters here
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