Trump, allies were part of Michigan fake elector scheme, investigator testifies

A Michigan prosecutor testified Wednesday that former President Trump and senior campaign allies contributed to a scheme to overturn the state’s 2020 electoral results.

Michigan attorney general’s office special agent Howard Shock said Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator in an investigation into the plan, which has resulted in charges against 16 Michigan GOP officials.

In the scheme, prosecutors allege the Trump campaign and allies worked with local Republicans to override the state’s 2020 election results by putting forward a fraudulent list of Electoral College voters.

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and Kenneth Chesebro are also considered unindicted co-conspirators, Shock testified. 

Prosecutors are pursuing criminal charges against 15 people who participated in the scheme, after dropping charges against one defendant who assisted the investigation. All the defendants have pleaded not guilty.

The hearing Wednesday was part of a preliminary investigation on whether the case can forward to trial. The hearings are expected to end in June.

Some of the defense attorneys for the Michigan “fake electors” have argued they were tricked into signing forged electoral documents by Trump campaign officials. 

Trump already faces similar charges that he was involved in a scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. That case — which also includes charges against Meadows, Giuliani, Ellis and Chesebro, among others — is expected to go to trial this fall.

Giuliani’s attorney, Ted Goodman, denounced the claims that he participated in the scheme.

“The continued weaponization of our justice system should concern all Michiganders and Americans. It’s an affront to American Democracy and does permanent, irrevocable harm to the country,” Goodman said in a statement, adding that Giuliani only raised “legitimate concerns” about the 2020 election results.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung also pushed back against the claims, saying the implication in the election fraud investigation is politically-motivated.

“President Trump has established a commanding polling lead and failed president Crooked Joe Biden is on the ropes. 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,” Cheung said in a statement to The Hill. “The American People will not fall for the Biden-directed Witch-Hunts and will hold Crooked Joe and his comrades to account in November.”