The Fake Elector’s scheme was hatched in the now-addled, Crazy brain of Trump’s law-breaking lawyer John Eastman.
Eastman is fighting to keep his law license right now in the state of California.
The goal of the phony-elector scheme was to stop the genuine members of the Electoral College in each state, the electors who were legally representing president elect Joe Biden. Trump lawyers aimed to create an “alternative” fake slate of electors in seven states.
Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania.
According to CNN, Federal prosecutors have interviewed the state secretaries for Pennsylvania and New Mexico. “Smith’s team has sent subpoenas to local and state officials in all seven of the key states … that were targeted by Trump and his allies and where Trump’s campaign convened the false electors as part of the effort to subvert the electoral college.”
The Michigan Phony Electors Indictments
Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel announced charges against the state’s 16 “fake electors,” today Tuesday July 18.
“The Michigan 16” are each charged with multiple felonies in connection with their alleged role in the scheme to replace the REAL OR GENUINE Electoral College Electors after the 2020 presidential election.
I’ll read the charges in a minute. Here is my big take-a-ways about this story. These folks are OG! I’m not being Ageistt, but the oldest is 81, the two youngest are 55.
They have a total of 1,101 years of “Life Experience!” Where is their common sense? They are going to have huge Legal Bills and I think their lives are going to be ruined. Why did they do this? But that is just me. The Trump Cult continues to destroy lives. I’m sorry about all of it.
Charges
Per charging documents released by Nessel’s office, each of the fake electors face eight separate counts.
One count of conspiracy to commit forgery
Two counts of forgery
One count of conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing
One count of uttering and publishing
One count of conspiracy to commit election law forgery
Two counts of election law forgery
I looked it up. “Uttering counterfeit obligations or securities”
Here is the definition
“Whoever, with intent to defraud, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or with like intent brings into the United States or keeps in possession or conceals any falsely made, forged, counterfeited, or altered obligation or other security of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.”
Here’s what we know about the 16 fake electors facing state charges.
I took this off of CNN’s website.
Meshawn Maddock, 55, was co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party during the 2020 campaign and is married to a GOP member of the Michigan House of Representatives. CNN previously reported that she publicly bragged about the Trump campaign’s involvement in the fake elector scheme. The Maddocks spoke at a pro-Trump event in Washington, DC, one day before the insurrection on January 6, 2021, and Meshawn Maddock was in DC on the day of the attack, though she wasn’t at the US Capitol.
Kathy Berden, 70, is one of the Republican National Committee members representing Michigan. She was previously one of the pro-Trump delegates at the Republican National Convention in summer 2016.
Marian Sheridan, 69, is the grassroots vice chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party. She was also one of the plaintiffs in a frivolous lawsuit that tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Michigan.
Kent Vanderwood, 69, is the current mayor of Wyoming, Michigan, a small city near Grand Rapids. He was previously a longtime member of the Wyoming City Council and won the mayor’s race last year. During the 2020 campaign, he was chair of the 2nd District Republican Party, according to local press reports.
Stanley Grot, 71, is the Shelby Township clerk, in a small western Michigan town. He was appointed in 2012.
Amy Facchinello, 55, was elected in 2020 as a member of the school board in Grand Blanc, which is a suburb of Flint, Michigan. She was previously vice chairwoman of the Genesee County Republican Party. CNN previously reported that she has repeatedly promoted QAnon-related material on her social media accounts.
Mary-Ann Henry, 65, is the treasurer of the 7th Congressional District Republican Committee, according to its website. The district includes Michigan’s capital city of Lansing and several surrounding counties.
Michele Lundgren, 73, was the Republican nominee in 2022 for a Detroit-based seat in the Michigan House of Representatives, but lost the heavily Democratic district in a landslide. Regarding the fake electors plot, she told CNN last year, “We were called on the phone, asked if we’d come and support President Trump and sign something, and we all went to Lansing. … We were just told to show up and sign this paper. If we had any information about it being untoward or illegal, we would not have done it.”
Clifford Frost, 75, is a realtor who unsuccessfully ran for the Macomb County Board of Commissioners last year. He was a GOP poll-watcher in Detroit during the 2020 primary, according to the Detroit Free Press. In recent days, he has shared pro-Trump conspiracy theories about alleged voter fraud on social media.
John Haggard, 82, was one of the plaintiffs in a frivolous lawsuit that tried to overturn the 2020 results in Michigan. The lawsuit was dismissed and the lawyers who brought it were sanctioned by a judge. He served as a legitimate Trump elector from Michigan in 2016, when Trump narrowly won the state.
Timothy King, 56, was also one of the plaintiffs in a frivolous lawsuit that tried to overturn the 2020 results in Michigan. The lawsuit was dismissed and the lawyers who brought it were sanctioned by a judge.
Rose Rook, 81, is a member of the executive committee of the Van Buren County Republicans, according to its website.
Mayra Rodriguez, 64, is a lawyer who is facing potential disciplinary proceedings with the Attorney Discipline Board, stemming from her participation in the fake electors plot, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Hank Choate, 72, is a dairy farmer who met with Trump during a White House event about agriculture in April 2017. The event was also attended by then-Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.
Ken Thompson, 68 was brought in to replace one of the original GOP electors that was recruited to serve before the 2020 election. A Michigan GOP official testified to the House select committee that investigated January 6, 2021, that Thompson replaced an original elector who was “uncomfortable with the whole thing” and refused to participate.
