Former President Donald Trump was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Michigan election interference case that accused more than a dozen Republicans of acting as fake electors in the 2020 election, a state investigator revealed Wednesday in court.
Last year, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged 16 Republicans with forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery for allegedly trying to replace Michigan’s electoral votes for Joe Biden with those for Trump at the certification of the vote on Jan. 6, 2021. All have pleaded not guilty.
Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, were also identified as unindicted co-conspirators, which is a title used for someone who has been accused of a crime but not legally charged. Howard Shock, a special agent for the attorney general’s office, revealed the names Wednesday, saying the investigation was still open against 15 of the defendants.
Due to the number of defendants involved, the pretrial hearings were divided into two by Judge Kristen Simmons. The hearings for the first group of defendants concluded Wednesday.
Some of the defendants have expressed their anger at the Republican Party, believing they were misled. Nessel dropped her charges against James Renner, as part of a cooperation agreement. Renner shared that he realized that he and the other electors acted improperly after reviewing House testimony on the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
“I can’t overemphasize how, once I read the information in the J6 transcripts, how upset I was that the legitimate process had not been followed,” Renner said in the interview, according to an audio recording obtained by the New York Times. “I felt that I had been walked into a situation that I shouldn’t have ever been involved in.”
During Tuesday’s hearing, George Donnini, a lawyer for defendant Kathy Berden, keyed in on the role of former Trump campaign worker Mike Roman, who was also identified as an unindicted co-conspirator. Emails and text messages reportedly revealed that Roman had played an instrumental role in putting forward slates of fake electors in swing states.
Roman faces charges in Georgia including racketeering conspiracy and conspiracies to commit forgery, to impersonate a public officer, to commit false statements, and to file false documents in the Fulton County racketeering case.
Investigations and prosecutions related to phony electors are occurring across five swing states. In Georgia, charges have been brought against Trump, Meadows, Giuliani, Roman, and more than a dozen others. Nevada is focusing its efforts on charging fake electors, and charges are expected soon in Arizona. Meanwhile, an investigation is being conducted in Wisconsin.
Giuliani’s political adviser, Ted Goodman, said in a statement that Giuliani would not “be bullied or pressured into silence by highly partisan actors.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Steven Cheung, Trump’s campaign communications director, blamed the investigations on Democrats.
“President Trump has established a commanding polling lead and failed president Crooked Joe Biden is on the ropes,” Cheung told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “His Democrat party allies know it, so they press their ongoing Witch-Hunts, further abusing and misusing the power of their offices in a no-holds barred effort to interfere in the presidential election. The American People will not fall for the Biden-directed Witch-Hunts and will hold Crooked Joe and his comrades to account in November.”
