Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Tuesday filed felony charges against 16 Republicans who posed as collegiate voters in the 2020 election for then-President Donald Trump, accusing them of presenting false certificates confirming they were electors. legitimate despite Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
Yes ok more than 1,000 people have been charged of crimes related to the violent attack of January 6 2021 against the US Capitol, the day Congress met to certify the election results, the Michigan felonies mark the first time anyone has been charged with trying to overturn Trump’s defeat through the political system .
The attorney general has been investigating the group for allegedly signing documents proving they were legitimate Electoral College delegates. His goal was to get Congress to accept fake certificates for Trump, despite Democrat Joe Biden winning the state by 154,000 votes.
Nessel announced Tuesday that the 16 individuals will be charged with eight criminal charges, including two of forgery, which carries a sentence of 14 years. The group includes Kathy Berden, a member of the Republican National Committee, and Meshawn Maddock, a former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party.
“It would be remiss of the greatest magnitude if my department did not act here in the face of compelling evidence that there was an organized attempt to circumvent the legally cast ballots of millions of Michigan voters in a presidential election,” Nessel said in a statement.
“The actions of the fake voters undermined the public’s faith in the integrity of our elections and, we believe, also clearly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan,” he added.
The White House has not commented on it.
The group allegedly met on December 14, 2020, and placed their names on several certificates stating that they were collegiate voters of Trump. Those false documents were sent to the federal Senate and the National Archives.
In January of last year, Nessel asked federal prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into the 16 Republicans.
Nessel claimed that there had been a “coordinated effort” between Republican parties in several battleground states, including Michigan, to come up with so-called alternate lists of delegates with false documents. He said he wanted federal authorities to do an evaluation to see if charges could be filed.
Trump said Tuesday that he had been notified by the US Department of Justice that he It is the objective of your investigation. about efforts to nullify the 2020 election, in a sign he could face criminal charges.
A Georgia prosecutor is also investigating attempts to reverse his defeat in that state.
[Con información de AP y Reuters]
