All 16 Republican defendants named in the Michigan “false elector prosecution” pleaded not guilty on Thursday to several felony charges over their alleged role in a scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, the state attorney general’s office announced.
Nine of the defendants were arraigned on state charges during a virtual court hearing in Lansing, while the other seven pleaded not guilty in recent weeks, according to reports.
“Each was given a personal recognizance bond which stipulates defendants must not travel out of state without permission of the Court, must not possess or purchase firearms, ammunition, or dangerous weapons, must not commit any illegal acts, and must not miss any court dates at the risk of jeopardizing their bond,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office said in a news release.
Nessel announced felony charges against the defendants in July for allegedly signing their names to multiple official documents in the basement of the Michigan GOP headquarters on December 14, 2020, that claimed that Donald Trump won Michigan’s Presidential election in 2020.
The attorney general said the defendants then transmitted the documents to the U.S Senate and National Archives in an alleged coordinated effort to award Michigan’s electoral votes “to the candidate of their choosing, in place of the candidates actually elected by the people of Michigan.”
“The false electors’ actions 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,” Nessel said in a news release last month.
“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,” she added.
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Nessel charged each defendant with eight criminal counts, including conspiracy to commit forgery, conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing, and election law forgery.
CNN reported the defendants include Republican National Committee’s Kathy Berden, current Michigan GOP vice chair Marian Sheridan, and former Michigan GOP co-chair Meshawn Maddock.
Other defendants include Mayor Kent Vanderwood of the City of Wyoming, Michigan, Shelby Township clerk Stanley Grot, Grand Blanc school board member Amy Facchinello, and local GOP officials Rose Rook and Mari-Ann Henry. Also named in the case are pro-Trump lawsuit plaintiffs John Haggard and Timothy King; former GOP candidates Clifford Frost and Michele Lundgren; and Hank Choate, James Renner, Mayra Rodriguez, and Ken Thompson.
Haggard’s attorney Kurt Krause reportedly said the probability of conviction for his client was low because of “the dubiousness of the factual basis asserted by the government.”
“He is eager and looks forward to fighting these charges,” Krause said, according to The Detroit News.
All defendants are set to appear in court for a probable cause conference on August 18.
The case was named in special counsel Jack Smith’s recent indictment against former President Donald Trump, who alleged that Trump’s team wanted to “subvert the legitimate election results and change electoral votes” with the so-called scheme on January 6, 2021.