Wisconsin pro-Trump ‘fake electors’ settle lawsuit over false 2020 filings

The 10 Wisconsin Republicans who falsely asserted former President Trump won the 2020 election there conceded that their actions were part of an effort to subvert the state’s election results as part of a settlement agreement made public Wednesday.

The alternate electors affirmed that President Biden won the 2020 election in the Badger State and that they were not Wisconsin’s “duly elected” presidential electors as they previously claimed, revoking the false documents they filed Dec. 14, 2020 — the first time any pro-Trump electors have done so.

Those filings were later used “as part of an attempt to improperly overturn the 2020 presidential election results,” the so-called “fake electors” said.

“We oppose any attempt to undermine the public’s faith in the ultimate results of the 2020 presidential election,” read a statement by the 10 Republicans that was attached to the settlement agreement.

The statement is part of a settlement involving a $2.4 million lawsuit Biden’s Democratic electors filed against the Republicans. The fake electors won’t pay any damages or attorneys fees under the deal, and there is no admission of culpability or liability.  

As part of the agreement, the pro-Trump electors pledged not to serve as electors in 2024 or in any election where Trump is on the ballot. They also agreed to cooperate with ongoing or future Justice Department investigations tied to efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 election or efforts to interfere with the certification of that election.

Jeff Mandell, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the settlement agreement holds the fake electors accountable for their actions and helps ensure that similar efforts will “never happen again.”

“Wisconsin voters have been awaiting accountability for 3 years, and it is beyond time to hold those who perpetrated this scheme responsible for their actions,” Mandell said.

The alternate electors scheme, spearheaded by Trump lawyer John Eastman and bolstered by other lawyers, relied on former Vice President Mike Pence certifying slates of Trump-supporting electors in battleground states instead of the true Electoral College votes cast for Biden.

Pence declined to go along with the plan on Jan. 6, 2021 — the day of the election certification — writing in a letter that his “oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.” Later that day, a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in protest of the election results and Pence’s refusal to overturn them.

In addition to Wisconsin, fake electors allegedly convened in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Nevada, claiming without basis that they were “duly elected” electors from their states. 

Those actions have prompted criminal probes in several of those states, though Wisconsin’s prosecutorial arm has not said whether it is investigating the fake electors. 

The case against Wisconsin’s pro-Trump electors was scheduled to go to trial in September 2024, just two months before Election Day. Both Biden and Trump are running for reelection and are widely expected to have a rematch next year.

Updated at 12:50 p.m. ET