CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A group of Republicans on Wednesday defended 16 GOP electors for signing a false certificate claiming former President Donald Trump won Michigan in 2020, a day after Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel filed criminal charges accusing them of engaging in election fraud.
They were joined separately by one of the highest-ranking defendants as former Michigan Republican Party Co-Chairwoman Meshawn Maddock told “America’s Voice Live” radio host Steve Gruber on Wednesday that she and the other Trump electors “showed up when we were asked and signed the paperwork.”
Macomb County Republican Party Chairman Mark Forton argued at a Clinton Township press conference that the 16 presidential electors were duly elected at a GOP convention and standing ready to cast their votes for Trump if Congress decided to change the slate of electors.
Forton said Nessel's "witch hunt" prosecution is part of a Democratic effort to eliminate the Electoral College. The elimination of the Electoral College would allow some of the country's largest states to potentially control how the nation is run, he said, reciting an argument about why it is fair for a candidate to lose the national popular vote but prevail in the Electoral College.
“The idea of alternate electors has happened many times in American history,” said Forton, making a reference to the 1960 presidential election, when Hawaii was undergoing a recount as the electors met in December 1960.
Democrat John Kennedy won the national popular vote and the Electoral College vote 63 years ago over Republican Richard Nixon. But when the electors met, Kennedy electors signed a certificate for the state of Hawaii even though Nixon had barely won Hawaii and the results had been certified by the governor.
The three Democratic electors for Kennedy met and signed a certificate similar to what Trump’s supporters did, even as Nixon’s GOP electors signed their own certificate, according to Politico. But the recount, finished on Dec. 28, 1960, reversed the outcome in favor of Kennedy, and a judge ruled the Kennedy electors were legitimate, according to Politico.
Forton and others who spoke during the press conference at the Macomb GOP community office repeatedly stressed the need for fairness and transparency, essentially warning that Nessel is setting a bad precedent.
"It is crucial to acknowledge and emphasize the importance of a fair and just legal system that protects the rights of all individuals, regardless of background or beliefs," Michigan GOP Co-Chair Malinda Pego said.
"When government officials use their position to target and oppress certain groups or individuals, it sets a dangerous precedent that undermines the principles of our representative government and our civil liberties. The weaponization of government power against citizens not only erodes trust in our legal system but also threatens our fundamental rights and freedoms that we hold dear."
Nessel's office didn't immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment on the arguments from the Macomb County Republican press conference.
What Nessel alleges
Each of the individuals charged, including Maddock and Shelby Township Clerk Stanley Grot, is facing eight felony charges connected to the signing of the document and its submission to federal officials, including forgery as well as uttering and publishing. An affidavit in support of the complaint prepared by Nessel's office indicated the 16 "falsely asserted that they were the duly elected and qualified electors for president and vice president from the state of Michigan."
Trump supporters gathered inside the then-Michigan Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, and signed a certificate, claiming to cast the state's 16 electoral votes for Trump. Four of the false electors — Maddock, Michele Lundgren, Marian Sheridan and Kenneth Thompson — appeared at the state Capitol on the same day with Republican then-state Rep. Daire Rendon, who said the "electors" were there to cast votes, the document said. But they were turned away by the Michigan State Police.
The charges are the most serious allegations yet in Michigan over the campaign to overturn Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden, who won the state three years ago by 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points. Trump and his supporters have made unproven claims that fraud swung the result.
Wednesday's Macomb GOP press conference again pointed to those claims.
"The American people know the 2020, 2022 elections are corrupt," Forton said. "They know it."
During Maddock's radio appearance, host Gruber questioned who asked the electors to show up for their gathering in Michigan GOP headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020. The former co-chairwoman responded that “a lot of it” was vague to her. But she said Michigan Republican Party staff had contacted the electors about the meeting.
Maddock described the charges as a political persecution and accused Nessel of working with Jack Smith, the federal special counsel who’s been investigating efforts across the country by Trump to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
“Maybe, she decided to pull all of this together after a phone call with Jack Smith after a couple of Bloody Marys. I’m not sure,” Maddock told Gruber of Nessel, Michigan's top law enforcement official.
Nessel’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about Maddock’s statements.
'Two-tiered justice system'
The attendees read a prepared statement from U.S. Lisa McClain, R-Bruce Township, that referenced a "two-tiered justice system" in the country.
"This latest attack from our far left AG Dana Nessel, who has continuously trampled on the rule of law, is political theater at its worst," McClain's statement read.
But Democrats have unified behind Nessel, arguing she is standing up for the rule of law.
“These Republicans attempted to undermine the very foundations of our democracy, and their actions are a stain on the proud history of our state and the rule of law," Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said in a Tuesday statement.
"We are so proud to have an attorney general that is using all measures at her disposal to carry out a transparent, detailed process to ensure that MAGA Republicans are held accountable for their unlawful, un-American actions."
Lawmaker: 'I stand with America's patriots'
But Republicans fired back at the Wednesday press conference, including state Rep. Josh Schriver, an Oxford Republican who represents a district that includes parts of Macomb and Oakland counties.
Schriver called Nessel "a thug. I stand with America's patriots. Seeking peaceful legal remedies is not a crime."
Other Republican leaders have been more restrained in their criticism of Nessel. Michigan House Minority Leader Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, issued a Tuesday statement calling the charges "serious."
“The charges brought by Attorney General Nessel are serious," Hall said. "She bears the burden of proving them in a court of law and demonstrating that they are not politically motivated."
In her Tuesday statement announcing the charges, the attorney general said the 16 charged "undermined the public’s faith in the integrity of our elections and, we believe, also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan."
She added: "My department has prosecuted numerous cases of election law violations throughout my tenure, and it would be malfeasance of the greatest magnitude if my department failed to act here in the face of overwhelming evidence of an organized effort to circumvent the lawfully cast ballots of millions of Michigan voters in a presidential election."
In October, Southfield Clerk Sherikia Hawkins resigned after pleading no contest to election-related charges filed by Nessel's office in 2019. Southfield is a Democratic stronghold.
After initially referring the matter to federal prosecutors in January, Nessel reopened a state-level investigation into the fake Trump electors, citing new documents released by a U.S. House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, failed attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
In testimony before the committee, Laura Cox, who was chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party in 2020, said she had prepared a document for the Trump electors to sign on Dec. 14, 2020, that said they had merely participated in a ceremony and "would cast their votes" for the Republican president if given the chance.
Cox told U.S. House investigators that the intent behind the document she pushed for was to state that the Republican Trump electors were willing to serve and vote for Trump if "something were to happen in the courts" in the future to overturn the result.
But the electors participated in an event in the basement of Michigan GOP headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, that produced a certificate that claimed Trump had won the state's 16 electoral votes.
Michigan election law bans someone from knowingly making or publishing a false document "with the intent to defraud."
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