Originally published July 19, 2023 7:02 am PDT
Michigan’s state prosecutors have levied serious criminal charges against 16 supporters of former President Donald Trump, referred to as “counterfeit electors,” following their alleged engagement in electoral subversion following the 2020 US presidential race.
The accused, whose average age is 69, are alleged to have participated in a coordinated ploy to manipulate the results of the election.
According to a press release from the Michigan Attorney General’s office, these individuals convened on December 14, 2020, with the intent of fraudulently signing and certifying official documentation that claimed they were the “duly elected and qualified electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America for the State of Michigan.”
In a further twist, the counterfeit documents were allegedly dispatched to the U.S. Senate and National Archives in an orchestrated bid to award Michigan’s electoral votes to the candidate they favored, instead of the ones legitimately chosen by the state’s electorate.
This tactic was reportedly employed by Trump supporters in seven battleground states in an attempt to substitute the votes of legitimate electors before Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence could certify the original votes.
The charges against the accused include:
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Forgery (14-year felony)
- Two counts of Forgery (14-year felony)
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Uttering and Publishing (14-year felony)
- One count of Uttering and Publishing (14-year felony)
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Election Law Forgery (5-year felony)
- Two counts of Election Law Forgery (5-year felony)
Those charged include:
- Kathy Berden, 70, of Snover
- William (Hank) Choate, 72, of Cement City
- Amy Facchinello, 55, of Grand Blanc
- Clifford Frost, 75, of Warren
- Stanley Grot, 71, of Shelby Township
- John Haggard, 82, of Charlevoix
- Mari-Ann Henry, 65, of Brighton
- Timothy King, 56, of Ypsilanti
- Michele Lundgren, 73, of Detroit
- Meshawn Maddock, 55, of Milford
- James Renner, 76, of Lansing
- Mayra Rodriguez, 64, of Grosse Pointe Farms
- Rose Rook, 81, of Paw Paw
- Marian Sheridan, 69, of West Bloomfield
- Ken Thompson, 68, of Orleans
- Kent Vanderwood, 69, of Wyoming
Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel declared her commitment to addressing the alleged election violations.
She stated, “My department has prosecuted numerous cases of election law violations throughout my tenure, and it would be malfeasance of the greatest magnitude if my department failed to act here in the face of overwhelming evidence of an organized effort to circumvent the lawfully cast ballots of millions of Michigan voters in a presidential election.”
She added that the “evidence will demonstrate there was no legal authority for the false electors to purport to act as ‘duly elected presidential electors’ and execute the false electoral documents.”
“Every serious challenge to the election had been denied, dismissed, or otherwise rejected by the time the false electors convened. There was no legitimate legal avenue or plausible use of such a document or an alternative slate of electors. There was only the desperate effort of these defendants, who we have charged with deliberately attempting to interfere with and overturn our free and fair election process, and along with it, the will of millions of Michigan voters. That the effort failed and democracy prevailed does not erase the crimes of those who enacted the false electors plot.”
You can read a transcript of AG Nessel’s recorded remarks below:
