The US 2020 Presidential Election & Attempts To Overturn It

[tbm3fan]

Former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters sentenced to 9 years for voting data scheme
Tina Peters was found guilty of most charges against her in August for orchestrating the security breach of her elections computer system


Candidate Tina Peters speaks during a debate for the state leadership position Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, in Hudson, Colo.

A judge sentenced a former Colorado county clerk to nine years behind bars Thursday for leading a voting system data-breach scheme inspired by the rampant false claims that fraud altered the 2020 presidential outcome.

Judge Matthew Barrett handed down the sentence after jurors found Tina Peters guilty in August for allowing a man to misuse a security card to access to the Mesa County election system and for being deceptive about that person’s identity.

The man was affiliated with My Pillow chief executive Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from Trump.

At trial, prosecutors said Peters, a Republican, was seeking fame and became “fixated” on voting problems after becoming involved with those who had questioned the accuracy of the presidential election results.

A one-time hero to election deniers, Peters has been unapologetic about what happened.
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She can now be unapologetic behind bars as soon as the door closes...

[TopHatter]

Former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters sentenced to 9 years for voting data scheme
Tina Peters was found guilty of most charges against her in August for orchestrating the security breach of her elections computer system


Candidate Tina Peters speaks during a debate for the state leadership position Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, in Hudson, Colo.

A judge sentenced a former Colorado county clerk to nine years behind bars Thursday for leading a voting system data-breach scheme inspired by the rampant false claims that fraud altered the 2020 presidential outcome.

Judge Matthew Barrett handed down the sentence after jurors found Tina Peters guilty in August for allowing a man to misuse a security card to access to the Mesa County election system and for being deceptive about that person’s identity.

The man was affiliated with My Pillow chief executive Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from Trump.

At trial, prosecutors said Peters, a Republican, was seeking fame and became “fixated” on voting problems after becoming involved with those who had questioned the accuracy of the presidential election results.

A one-time hero to election deniers, Peters has been unapologetic about what happened.
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[TopHatter]

Rudy Giuliani has been officially disbarred in Washington D.C. over his false claims the 2020 election was stolen for Joe Biden.

FAFO in action

[TopHatter]

Ex-Trump attorney Jenna Ellis agrees to cooperate in Arizona 'fake elector' case
The state is dropping the charges against Ellis in exchange for her cooperation.




Donald Trump's former attorney Jenna Ellis has reached a cooperation agreement with officials in Arizona as part of the state's "fake elector" case, the Arizona attorney general's office announced Monday.

The state is dropping the charges against Ellis in exchange for her cooperation, officials said.

Ellis was facing nine felonies as part of the case.

She pleaded not guilty in Maricopa County court in June for her alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Arizona.

As part of her cooperation deal, Ellis has agreed to provide information and materials to law enforcement officials as well as to testify "at any time and place," according to a copy of her cooperation agreement that was released by officials.

Ellis also sat for a recorded proffer session with the attorney general's office on June 17, according to the agreement.

"This agreement represents a significant step forward in our case," Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement. "I am grateful to Ms. Ellis for her cooperation with our investigation and prosecution. Her insights are invaluable and will greatly aid the State in proving its case in court."

This spring, Ellis was one of eighteen individuals indicted by Mayes' office over their alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. A number of former and current aides to Trump were among those indicted, including Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows.

Trump was not charged in the case.

The deal marks the second cooperation agreement for Ellis, who previously pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate in Georgia last year after she was indicted in Fulton County alongside Donald Trump and 17 others over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in that state.

Appearing in a Georgia courtroom in October, Ellis tearfully denounced her work on behalf of Trump during the 2020 election.

"If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump, in these post-election challenges," Ellis told the judge in that case. "I look back on this whole experience with deep remorse."

ABC News later exclusively obtained video of Ellis' proffer session with Fulton County prosecutors.

In addition to Ellis, Georgia defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell and Scott Hall also took cooperation deals in that case.
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"I don't know her, I've never met her, I had nothing to do with her, no deals, no nothing!!"

[TopHatter]

Judge throws out Rudy Giuliani's bankruptcy case, says he flouted process with lack of transparency


NEW YORK (AP) — A judge threw out Rudy Giuliani ’s bankruptcy case on Friday, finding that the former New York City mayor had flouted the process with a lack of transparency.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane formalized the decision after saying he was leaning toward doing so on Wednesday. Lawyers for Giuliani and his two biggest creditors — two former election workers he was found to have defamed — had agreed that dismissing the case was the best way forward.

The dismissal ends Giuliani’s pursuit of bankruptcy protection but doesn’t absolve him of his debts. His creditors can now pursue other legal remedies to recoup at least some of the money they’re owed, such as getting a court order to seize his apartments and other assets.

Dismissing the case will also allow the ex-mayor to pursue an appeal in the defamation case, which arose from his efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.

Lane said evidence in the case showed that Giuliani had failed to meet obligations of financial transparency required of a debtor and that dismissing the bankruptcy was in the best interests of people to whom the ex-mayor owes money.

“The lack of financial transparency is particularly troubling given concerns that Mr. Giuliani has engaged in self-dealing and that he has potential conflicts of interest that would hamper the administration of his bankruptcy case,” Lane wrote in a 22-page decision.

The judge said that most debtors will seek to remedy such problems when alerted to them, but, “By contrast, Mr. Giuliani has done nothing.”

A message seeking comment was left with Giuliani’s lawyer and spokesperson.

Giuliani’s other creditors had wanted to keep the bankruptcy case going with a court-appointed trustee taking control of Giuliani’s assets.

The dismissal includes a 12-month ban on Giuliani filing again for bankruptcy protection.

Giuliani filed for bankruptcy last December, days after the two ex-Georgia election workers — Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss — won a $148 million defamation judgment against him.

They said Giuliani’s targeting of them because of Trump’s lies about the 2020 election being stolen led to death threats that made them fear for their lives. The filing froze collection of the debt.
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[TopHatter]

Giuliani is disbarred in New York as court finds he repeatedly lied about Trump's 2020 election loss



NEW YORK (AP) — Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, federal prosecutor and legal adviser to Donald Trump, was disbarred in New York on Tuesday after a court found he repeatedly made false statements about Trump's 2020 election loss.

The Manhattan appeals court ruled Giuliani, who had his New York law license suspended in 2021 for making false statements around the election, is no longer allowed to practice law in the state, effective immediately.

“The seriousness of respondent’s misconduct cannot be overstated,” the decision reads. Giuliani “flagrantly misused” his position and “baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country’s electoral process.”

“In so doing, respondent not only deliberately violated some of the most fundamental tenets of the legal profession, but he also actively contributed to the national strife that has followed the 2020 Presidential election, for which he is entirely unrepentant,” the court wrote.

A Giuliani spokesperson, Ted Goodman, said the man once dubbed “America’s mayor” will appeal the “objectively flawed” decision. He also called on others in the legal community to speak out against the “politically and ideologically corrupted decision.”

Giuliani’s attorney Arthur Aidala was more measured, saying his legal team was “obviously disappointed” but not surprised by the decision. He said they “put up a valiant effort” to prevent the disbarment but “saw the writing on the wall.”

The court said in its decision that Giuliani “essentially conceded” most of the facts supporting the alleged acts of misconduct during hearings held in October 2023. Instead, the decision said, he argued that he “lacked knowledge that statements he had made were false and that he had a good faith basis to believe the allegations he made to support his claim that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen from his client.”

Among other things, the court said it found that Giuliani “falsely and dishonestly” claimed during the 2020 Presidential election that thousands of votes were cast in the names of dead people in Philadelphia, including a ballot in the name of the late boxing great Joe Frazier. He also falsely claimed people were taken from nearby Camden, New Jersey, to vote illegally in the Pennsylvania city, the court said.

The order states that Giuliani must “desist and refrain from practicing law in any form,” including "giving to another an opinion as to the law or its application or any advice” or “holding himself out in any way as an attorney and counselor-at-law.”

Before pleading Trump’s case in November 2020, Giuliani had not appeared in court as an attorney since 1992, according to court records.

The disbarment comes amid mounting woes for the 80-year-old Giuliani. In May, WABC radio suspended him and canceled his daily talk show because he refused to stop making false claims about the 2020 election.

Giuliani is also facing the possibility of losing his law license in Washington. A board in May recommended that he be disbarred, though a court has the final say.

He also filed for bankruptcy last year after being ordered to pay $148 million in damages to two former Georgia election workers over lies he spread about them that upended their lives with racist threats and harassment.

Giuliani on Monday asked a federal judge to convert his bankruptcy case from a reorganization to a liquidation, which would mean most of his assets would be sold off to help pay what he owes creditors. At the end of May, he had about $94,000 in cash on hand while his company, Giuliani Communications, had about $237,000 in the bank, according to court documents.

Giuliani is also facing criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona over his role in the effort to overturn the 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

He’s charged in Georgia with making false statements and soliciting false testimony, conspiring to create phony paperwork and asking state lawmakers to violate their oath of office to appoint an alternate slate of pro-Trump electors.

The Arizona indictment accuses Giuliani of pressuring Maricopa County officials and state legislators to change the outcome of Arizona’s results and encouraging Republican electors in the state to vote for Trump in December 2020.

Giuliani built his public persona by practicing law, as the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan in the 1980s, when he went after mobsters, powerbrokers and others. The law-and-order reputation helped catapult him into politics, governing the United States’ most populous city when it was beset by high crime.

The Republican was lauded for holding the city together after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, when two hijacked planes slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, killing more than 2,700 people.

But after unsuccessful runs for the U.S. Senate and the presidency, and a lucrative career as a globetrotting consultant, Giuliani smashed his image as a centrist who could get along with Democrats as he became one of Trump’s most loyal defenders.

He was the primary mouthpiece for Trump’s false claims of election fraud after the 2020 vote, infamously standing at a press conference in front of Four Seasons Total Landscaping outside Philadelphia saying the campaign would challenge what he claimed was a vast conspiracy by Joe Biden and fellow Democrats.

Lies around the election results helped push an angry mob of pro-Trump rioters to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an effort to stop the certification of Biden’s victory.
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Choke on it asshole. This is your legacy.

[TopHatter]

Morons

And the idiots who believed it are twice the morons

Gotta grasp onto whatever they can to "prove" the election was "stolen".

[Albany Rifles]

Morons

And the idiots who believed it are twice the morons

[TopHatter]

Publisher of ‘2,000 Mules’ election conspiracy theory film issues apology

Dinesh D'Souza's film 2000 Mules will no longer be distributed by Salem Media, after the publisher apologized.

The conservative media company behind the book and film “2,000 Mules,” which alleged a widespread conspiracy by Democrats to steal the 2020 election and was embraced by former president Donald Trump, has issued an apology and said it would halt distribution of the film and remove both the film and book from its platforms.

In a statement posted to their website, Salem Media Group, Inc. apologized specifically to Mark Andrews, a voter from Georgia falsely depicted illegally voting in “2,000 Mules.”

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation cleared Andrews of wrongdoing, and found he was legally dropping off ballots for members of his family. Andrews filed a defamation lawsuit against Salem, as well as the team behind the movie: right wing commentator Dinesh D’Souza, and the group True the Vote.

Though “2,000 Mules” has been widely debunked by law enforcement officials and the media, including NPR, the film and book developed a widespread following among supporters of the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen.

According to Andrews’ lawsuit, the allegations in “2,000 Mules” led to violent threats against him and his family. “They worry that again they will be baselessly accused of election crimes, and that believers in the ‘mules’ theory may recognize and seek reprisal against them, and that they may face physical harm,” the lawsuit alleged.

According to a court filing in a related case, Salem settled the lawsuit brought by Andrews for an undisclosed "significant" amount. In the statement on its website, Salem wrote, “It was never our intent that the publication of the ‘2000 Mules’ film and book would harm Mr. Andrews. We apologize for the hurt the inclusion of Mr. Andrews' image in the movie, book, and promotional materials have caused Mr. Andrews and his family.”

Salem said that it “relied on representations made to us by Dinesh D’Souza and True the Vote.”

D’Souza and True the Vote did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment.

Andrews’ lawsuit was brought with the help of the nonprofit group Protect Democracy, which also worked on defamation litigation brought by Georgia election workers against the former New York Mayor and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani.

A lawyer for Protect Democracy declined to comment on Salem’s statement due to the ongoing case. It is unclear what impact Salem’s apology will have on the lawsuit, which is currently in the discovery phase. Separately, Salem is also suing its insurer for allegedly failing to cover the costs stemming from Andrews’ lawsuit.

This was not the first rift among the makers and distributor of “2,000 Mules.”

When D’Souza published the book version of the film and made allegations of illegal “ballot trafficking” against specific nonprofit groups, True the Vote issued a statement saying that the group ”had no participation in this book, and has no knowledge of its contents." True the Vote added, "This includes any allegations of activities of any specific organizations made in the book. We made no such allegations."

That version of the book was abruptly recalled after already reaching store shelves and replaced with a version that omitted multiple significant allegations.
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This was a farce from the beginning.

[TopHatter]

Former Trump attorney has Colorado law license suspended for attempting to overturn 2020 election results



Jenna Ellis, an ex-attorney for former President Trump, has agreed to have her law license suspended for three years in Colorado for her role in attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

A presiding disciplinary judge approved the settlement between Ellis and Colorado’s Attorney Counsel on Tuesday.

Ellis pleaded guilty in October to one count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings. She reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in the Georgia 2020 election interference case, in which Trump and 17 others were indicted for engaging in an unlawful conspiracy to keep the former president in power.

She was first censured by Colorado’s Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel in March 2023 after she made “misrepresentations on national television and on Twitter regarding the 2020 presidential election.”

Ellis’s suspension will take effect on July 2 and last three years.

Two watchdog groups were attempting to have her disbarred, but the settlement said that while it’s the “presumptive sanction” for her misconduct, her “criminal culpability” was due to her actions as an “accessory,” not a principal.

“The evidence surrounding her plea reflects that she aided and abetted the false statements at issue through her presence at the Georgia Senate Subcommittee meeting but did not otherwise contribute to drafting or preparing the false statements,” the settlement said.

“She has also expressed remorse and has recognized the harm caused by her misconduct … and has taken significant, concrete steps to mitigate the harm her misconduct has caused,” the settlement said, noting that a three-year suspension would be an “appropriate sanction.”

Ellis must file a petition if she wants to reinstate her Colorado law license.

In a letter dated May 22, Ellis said she wanted to express her “deep remorse” and acknowledge the harm her misconduct caused.

“I do not do this as a political calculation, out of anger toward my former client, or for any other ways some may try to undermine or discredit my statement here, which is simply this: I am choosing to take responsibility for my actions and my association with the harm caused to this nation by the post-election activities of 2020 on behalf of then-President Donald Trump,” she wrote. “I was wrong to be involved.”

She said she would gratefully accept the suspension as a consequence and encouraged others who still think the 2020 election was stolen to “consider changing their position.”

“I will continue to stand up for the truth, even when it requires admitting I was wrong,” Ellis concluded.
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[TopHatter]

Arizona officials say they can’t find Rudy Giuliani to serve him with indictment notice



Arizona prosecutors have tried for weeks – and so far failed – to serve Rudy Giuliani with notice of his indictment related to an alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in that state.

Giuliani is among a group of former President Donald Trump’s allies indicted last month in Arizona alongside the 11 individuals who acted as fake GOP electors from the state in the last presidential election.

But the former New York City mayor and one-time attorney for Trump is the only defendant prosecutors have been unable to serve with a summons, according to Richie Taylor, a spokesperson for the Arizona attorney general’s office.

The summons is a formal notice that Giuliani has been criminally charged and must appear before a judge on May 21.

CNN has reached out to a spokesman for Giuliani for comment.

A team of prosecutors and investigators working for Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, has made multiple attempts to locate Giuliani, Taylor told CNN.

The day after the state-level grand jury handed up its indictment, two agents for the attorney general’s office traveled to New York City with plans to hand-deliver the notice to Giuliani, Taylor said.

The agents believed Giuliani was likely in his New York City apartment because he had recently video streamed from there – which they determined by matching the setting of the feed with pictures of the interior of the residence from an old real estate listing.

But upon arriving at the building, a person at the front desk told the agents they were not allowed to accept service of the documents, according to Taylor, who added that the individual did not dispute Giuliani lived there.

“We were not granted access,” Taylor added, confirming details previously reported by the Washington Post.

While Trump is not among those charged in Arizona, the details in the indictment suggest he is “Unindicted Coconspirator 1.”

“In Arizona, and the United States, the people elected Joseph Biden as President on November 3, 2020,” the indictment reads. “Unwilling to accept this fact, Defendants and unindicted coconspirators schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency to keep Unindicted Coconspirator 1 in office against the will of Arizona’s voters.”

Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, his close adviser Boris Epshteyn, the Republican National Committee’s top lawyer for “election integrity” Christina Bobb and former Trump campaign aide Mike Roman are among those charged in Arizona alongside Giuliani.

All of the defendants except Giuliani have been served.
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On the lam, like so many of the Mafioso he once prosecuted. What a sad comedown for a man like that....and all because Donald Trump. Gah, how pathetic.

[Albany Rifles]

So much "winning"!!!

[TopHatter]

Trump’s 2020 'fake electors' charged with state crimes in Arizona
The indictments also appear to include former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, based on descriptions in the document released Wednesday.

A state grand jury in Arizona on Wednesday indicted so-called "fake electors" who backed then-President Donald Trump in 2020, as well as key Trump aides, after a sprawling investigation into the alleged efforts to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election in the state.

One month after the 2020 election, 11 Trump supporters convened at the Arizona GOP’s headquarters in Phoenix to sign a certificate claiming to be Arizona’s 11 electors to the Electoral College, though Biden won the state by 10,457 votes and state officials certified his electors. The state Republican Party documented the signing of the certificate in a social media post and sent it to Congress and the National Archives.

Among those charged is Kelli Ward, who served as chair of the Arizona GOP during the 2020 election and the immediate aftermath. She tweeted on Jan. 6, 2021, after the attack on the U.S. Capitol: “Congress is adjourned. Send the elector choice back to the legislatures.” Ward was a consistent propagator of false claims that Arizona’s election results were rigged.

Others charged were: state legislators Anthony Kern and Jake Hoffman; Michael Ward, Kelli Ward’s husband; Tyler Bowyer, the Republican National Committee's Arizona committeeman and the chief operating officer of the Trump-aligned Turning Point USA; Greg Safsten, the former Arizona GOP executive director; former U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon; Robert Montgomery, the former head of the Cochise County GOP; and Republican Party activists Samuel Moorhead, Nancy Cottle and Loraine Pellegrino.

Based on descriptions in the indictment, Trump appears to be identified as "Unindicted Coconspirator 1." The document includes redacted names of other people who have been charged in the case but have not yet been served. Two of them appear to be former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump campaign and White House official Mike Roman, per the descriptions in the indictment.

Another passage appears to describe attorney Kenneth Chesebro, one of the planners of the alleged scheme, as an unindicted coconspirator. Chesebro pleaded guilty last year in Georgia to conspiracy charges brought against him, Trump and 17 other people in the state. He is also believed to be one of the unidentified co-conspirators special counsel Jack Smith described in his federal election interference indictment of Trump last year.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, led the investigation. She won her election to be the state’s chief prosecutor in November 2022, replacing Republican Mark Brnovich, a onetime ally of Trump who later earned his scorn for not substantiating his claims of election fraud in the state.

"We conducted a thorough and professional investigation over the past 13 months into the fake electors scheme in our state," Mayes said in a video announcing the charges. "I understand for some of you today didn't come fast enough. And I know I'll be criticized by others for conducting this investigation at all. But as I've stated before, and we'll say here again, today, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined."

The Arizona charges are the latest example of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election sprouting into legal cases during his 2024 bid to retake office.

Arizona was one of seven states where “alternate electors” signed paperwork falsely claiming Trump had won the states. Prosecutors have already charged “alternate electors” in Nevada, Georgia and Michigan.

Chesebro and others, including Trump legal adviser John Eastman, argued in the months after the 2020 election that then-Vice President Mike Pence could use the existence of the alternate electors to name Trump the winner of the election as he presided over the electoral vote count in Congress on Jan. 6.

Eastman wrote in a memo: “At the end, he announces that because of the ongoing disputes in the 7 States, there are no electors that can be deemed validly appointed in those States. … There are at this point 232 votes for Trump, 222 votes for Biden. Pence then gavels President Trump as re-elected.”

Trump lost Arizona by just under 11,000 votes. As the Republican electors sent illegitimate certifications to Washington, Trump sought to put pressure on Maricopa County officials and other Arizona Republicans, including then-state House Speaker Rusty Bowers and then-Gov. Doug Ducey.

Trump placed a phone call directly to Ducey as the governor certified the state’s election results. Ducey muted the call.

Mayes’ term as Arizona attorney general has been marked by other election cases stemming from Trump’s false claims about fraud in the 2020 election and after.

Last fall, Mayes charged two local officials who delayed the certification of midterm election results in 2022 in Cochise County. The officials voted against certifying the county’s election results by the statutory deadline after they aired baseless accusations about the integrity of the election for months. The county certified its election results only after a court ordered it to do so.
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Gotta be a way to "both sides" this....

[TopHatter]

Trump is a co-conspirator in Michigan's 2020 false electors plot, state investigator says

Lansing — Michigan prosecutors consider former President Donald Trump and some of his top aides co-conspirators in the plot to submit a certificate falsely claiming he won Michigan's 2020 election, an investigator for Attorney General Dana Nessel's office testified Wednesday in court.

Howard Shock, a special agent for Nessel, said Trump; Mark Meadows, who was Trump's chief of staff; and Rudy Giuliani, who was his personal lawyer, are "unindicted co-conspirators" in Michigan's false elector case. In total, over the last two days, Shock has identified 11 conspirators who haven't been charged. That means prosecutors believe they participated, to some extent, in an alleged scheme to commit forgery by creating a false document asserting Trump had won Michigan's 16 electoral votes when Democrat Joe Biden had won them.

Shock's testimony came on the sixth day of preliminary examinations in Ingham County District Court as Nessel's office pursues felony charges against a group of Republican activists who signed the certificate of votes claiming Trump won.



In July, Nessel, a Democrat, charged the 16 Republican electors with eight felonies each, including conspiracy to commit forgery, which would carry a penalty of up to 14 years behind bars. But Nessel's office has said its investigation is ongoing.

On Wednesday morning, lawyer Duane Silverthorn, who's representing elector Michele Lundgren of Detroit, read a list of names, asking Shock if the individuals were unindicted conspirators in the probe.

Shock said "yes" to Trump, Giuliani and Meadows. Trump is set to be the Republican presidential nominee this fall.

Shock also said "yes" to former Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Laura Cox and to the names of several other Michigan Republicans, including former state House Speaker Tom Leonard, his wife, Jenell Leonard, and Stu Sandler, a GOP consultant and legal adviser to Cox. Silverthorn didn't ask Shock for additional details of the co-conspirators' alleged involvement.

Sandler labeled Shock's comments "outrageous."

"I stand by the sound legal advice I gave and these partisan lawfare prosecutions have to stop," Sandler said. "Why in five years of Dana Nessel are only Republicans the continuing targets of these partisan lawfare prosecutions?"

It's unclear what Tom Leonard, who ran against Nessel for attorney general in 2018, is alleged to have done. Jenell Leonard was the Clinton County Republican Party chairwoman in 2020, and James Renner of Lansing, one of the GOP electors, previously testified that she contacted him about the Dec. 14, 2020, meeting where the certificate was signed.

On Tuesday, Shock also described Mike Roman, who was Trump's director of Election Day operations, as an unindicted conspirator.

"Are there other unindicted co-conspirators?" Silverthorn asked on Wednesday. "I am going to read you a list of names.”

"Former President Trump?" Silverthorn asked.

"Yes," Shock replied.

Shock also said on Wednesday that Jenna Ellis and Kenneth Chesebro, two lawyers who worked with the Trump campaign in the weeks after the Nov. 3, 2020, presidential election, are also unindicted co-conspirators, along with Chris Velasco, who worked for Trump's campaign in Michigan.

The objective of the electors effort was to bolster claims that the election was "rigged" and ultimately "void the results favoring" Biden, wrote Chesebro, who helped create the electors plan, in a Jan. 1, 2021, email to Boris Epshteyn, a top Trump adviser.

Ellis appeared with Giuliani in Lansing during a Dec. 2, 2020, hearing of the Michigan House Oversight Committee on unproven claims of election fraud. During the meeting, Giuliani urged Michigan lawmakers to intervene in the results of the election.



The preliminary examinations for six of the Republican electors concluded on Wednesday. Through the proceedings, Ingham County District Court Judge Kristen Simmons will eventually determine whether Nessel's office has presented enough evidence to show there is probable cause to believe that crimes occurred.

But that decision won't come until after nine other GOP electors' preliminary examinations end in early June. Those court hearings begin May 28.

Cox, who was the leader of the Michigan GOP at the time of the 2020 election, testified in the first round of examinations in December. Cox said she had concerns over the certificate Republicans signed on Dec. 14, 2020.

"They weren’t the electors at that moment ... in my opinion," Cox said of Dec. 14, 2020.

Cox, a former state lawmaker from Livonia, said she wanted the Republicans to use a different document that simply said they were "available to meet and perform their duties as a presidential elector," instead of claiming they were casting Michigan's electoral votes for Trump.

Some of the defense lawyers have argued that their clients didn't understand what they were signing when they gathered in Michigan GOP headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020. They've also contended that it was Trump campaign advisers who orchestrated the false certificate.

A spokesman for Trump's campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

During a hearing in February, Kahla Crino, an assistant attorney general, described the effort to submit false certificates claiming Trump won the 2020 presidential election as a "multi-state criminal conspiracy that was absolutely linked" to Trump's campaign.

Internal Trump campaign emails obtained by investigators and previously reviewed by The Detroit News showed Trump's campaign staff helped coordinate the Republicans' meeting on Dec. 14, 2020, when they signed the certificate.

Later, someone submitted the false certificate to the U.S. Senate and the National Archives. That's despite the fact that Biden won Michigan's 16 electoral votes and his victory had been certified by the Board of State Canvassers.

Trump and his campaign have previously criticized allegations that he acted improperly after the 2020 presidential election.

"Trump was carrying out his duty as president to investigate the rigged and stolen 2020 presidential election," Steven Cheung, Trump's campaign spokesperson, said in a statement on Jan. 4.

Trump is already facing charges linked to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election at the federal level, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, and in Georgia, brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Defense lawyers called no witnesses as part of the initial round of preliminary examinations for the Michigan electors.

George Donnini, who's representing elector Kathy Berden of Snover, said he believes defense attorneys did everything they could to argue that the certificate was contingent upon "on something happening between Dec. 14, 2020 and Jan. 6, 2021, the day Congress convened to certify the results.

"The fact that it didn't ultimately happen didn't matter," Donnini said. "It could have happened. Something could have happened. And that's what's significant."
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Not sure why they're blaming Trump....It was clearly Ray Epps that orchestrated the whole thing.

[Albany Rifles]

Russia Russia Russia....all roads seem to lead back to Russia.

Yet again. This is not a new occurrence.