Michigan ‘fake electors’ charged with felonies for 2020 election

Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel charged 16 “fake electors” with felony counts for their alleged efforts to illegally turn the 2020 election in former President Donald Trump’s favor.

Charges against those accused of meeting in the basement of the Michigan Republican Party headquarters to falsely sign ballots as “duly elected presidential electors” include accusations of forgery, uttering and publishing, and election law forgery, as well as counts of conspiracy to commit all of those illegal acts. Many of those charges carry 14-year sentences.

The alleged criminals range in age from 55 to 82, with an average age of nearly 69.

“The evidence will demonstrate there was no legal authority for the false electors to purport to act as ‘duly elected presidential electors’ and execute the false electoral documents,” Nessel said. “Every serious challenge to the election had been denied, dismissed, or otherwise rejected by the time the false electors convened.”

Michigan election officials certified President Joe Biden’s win over Trump on Nov. 23, 2020 despite numerous meritless — sometimes comical — challenges from the former president’s advocates. Those charged Tuesday with falsifying ballots in Michigan convened on Dec. 14, 2020 to execute their plot, according to Michigan’s attorney general.

[ Trump tells restaurant patrons ‘Food for everyone!’ then leaves without paying ]

Trump himself said on social media he was made aware Sunday night he was the target of a Department of Justice investigation into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Biden defeated Trump by more than 7 million votes in an election the cybersecurity director, who was appointed by the former president, called “the most secure in American history.”

Trump conceded on his Truth Social media platform Tuesday that he expects to soon be indicted for a third time. He called word of the DOJ’s inquiry “horrifying news.”

Meanwhile, prosecutors in Georgia are expected to announce next month if Trump will be charged with trying to interfere with that state’s election results. The former president, who’s the first Republican to lose in Georgia since 1992, was recorded after the election pressuring the state’s secretary of state to somehow “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory.

The 77-year-old ex-president became the first former president to be criminally indicted after leaving office when District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged him with falsifying business records.

He then became the first former president to be indicted twice when a Florida grand jury ruled in June there’s reason to believe he illegally possessed sensitive documents belonging to the federal government. He denies all the charges against him and claims to the victim of an ongoing “witch hunt.”