Judge Dismisses Charges Against 15 Republicans in Fake Electors Case

A District Court judge has decided that 15 Republicans accused of attempting to falsely declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election in Michigan will not face trial.

Judge Kristen D. Simmons announced her ruling, as reported by the Associated Press, stating that she did not believe the defendants intended to commit fraud. She expressed that they genuinely thought there were issues with the election process.

“I think they were exercising their constitutional rights to seek redress,” Simmons remarked.

Interestingly, a poll conducted in early November 2020 revealed that fewer than half of Americans thought Biden had won the election, according to Breitbart News.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel previously filed charges related to what she called a “fake electoral” scheme over two years ago.

Following the ruling, Nessel expressed disappointment and mentioned that her office would consider an appeal. She alleged that the defendants had lied in order to misappropriate millions of votes from residents in Michigan, as reported by NBC News.

She further questioned, “And if they can get away with this, how will they act next?”

In July 2023, Nessel had already announced charges against Trump’s 16 alternative electors from 2020 for similar deceit.

In addition, Nessel highlighted in a post that President Biden should terminate a critical local oil pipeline, joking about wanting a “drug queen at all schools.” She established the narrative of the first charge during those discussions.

The Trump campaign had put forward slates of alternative electors, asserting this was not meant to create “fake” electors to mislead authorities, but rather to provide legal options in case election results changed. Concerns were raised that the votes might not go to Trump without these electors if courts or the state legislature decided to alter the Michigan College of Election outcomes.

It’s worth noting that Democrats had employed a similar strategy during the closely contested 1960 election between Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John Kennedy.

Joel Pollak from Breitbart News weighed in on social media, asserting that the lawsuits against the Michigan electors seemed dubious from the outset. “Like the JFK precedent, the goal was not fraud, but to establish alternative electors as a fallback if courts took a different route,” he added.

Initially, the group involved comprised 16 individuals.

Among those charged was Meshun Maddock, a notable Michigan activist and former co-chair of the state Republican Party. Her attorney described the case as an instance of “malicious prosecution” following the announcement of the charges.