Michigan AG Dana Nessel charges 16 in ‘fake electors’ plot

Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Tuesday charged 16 “fake electors” with multiple felonies related to a plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the Great Lakes State.

Nessel alleges that the 16 residents signed certificates on Dec. 14, 2020, falsely claiming that they were the rightful electors and that President Donald Trump won Michigan in the 2020 presidential election. 

The group then attempted to deliver the certificates to the Michigan Capitol in Lansing., while real electors met inside the statehouse. 

“That was a lie,” Nessel said in a video announcing the charges.

“They weren’t the duly elected and qualified electors, and each of the defendants knew it,” she added. “They carried out these actions with the hope and belief that the electoral votes of Michigan’s 2020 election would be awarded to the candidate of their choosing, instead of the candidate that Michigan voters actually chose.”

The 16 individuals – Kathy Berden; William (Hank) Choate; Amy Facchinello; Clifford Frost; Stanley Grot; John Haggard; Mary-Ann Henry; Timothy King; Michele Lundgren, Meshawn Maddock; James Renner; Mayra Rodriguez; Rose Rook; Marian Sheridan; Ken Thompson; and Kent Vanderwood – face six different charges “for their role in the alleged false electors scheme following the 2020 U.S. presidential election,” according to the attorney general.

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.

The group of fake electors face more than 60 years in prison If convicted on all counts. 

The success of the fake electors scheme – reportedly devised by Trump lawyer John Eastman – depended on former Vice President Mike Pence refusing to certify electoral votes cast for Joe Biden and instead counting groups of Trump-backing electors in battleground states.

After the 2020 election, fake electors allegedly convened in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin, as well.

Nessel reopened a state investigation into the matter after initially referring the allegations to the Justice Department. 

The scheme reportedly has drawn the interest of special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating Trump over his alleged actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol Building – the day Pence certified the results of the 2020 election against Trump’s wishes, according to the former vice president.

“There will be those who claim these charges are political in nature. But when there is overwhelming evidence of guilt in respect to multiple crimes, the most political act I could engage in as a prosecutor would be to take no action at all,” Nessel said.

Those charged include current and former Michigan GOP officials, the Republican National Committee member, a sitting mayor, a school board member and Trump supporters who filed a frivolous lawsuit that tried to overturn the 2020 results, according to CNN. 

“This plan, to reject the will of the voters and undermine democracy, was fraudulent and legally baseless,” Nessel said of the scheme.