Three Trump allies charged in Wisconsin fake elector scheme
The Wisconsin attorney general on Tuesday filed charges against three allies of Donald Trump accused of taking part in the effort to put forth a slate of fake electors and usurp the 2020 presidential election, according to online court records.
The men – Kenneth Chesebro, a right-wing attorney who helped devise the fake elector plot; Jim Troupis, a former Trump lawyer; and Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign official – are each facing a single forgery charge.
Wisconsin is the latest state to bring charges against people connected to the former president involved in the broad effort to overturn the presidential election results. State prosecutors in Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia also have brought charges against a swath of Trump’s allies.
An attorney for Chesebro declined to comment. CNN has reached out to attorneys for Troupis and Roman.
Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued a one word response to the charges Tuesday: “Good.”
CNN previously reported that Chesebro was helping investigators in at least four states, including Wisconsin, who were looking into the fake electors scheme. Chesebro’s lawyers had believed that his cooperation would be enough for him to stave off charges.
Last year, the 10 fake electors from Wisconsin
disavowed their attempt to overturn Trump’s defeat in 2020, recognized the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s victory, and pledged not to serve as real electors in 2024 or any election when Trump is on the ballot – or to act as sham electors in any future election, as part of a civil lawsuit settlement.
The 10 fake electors issued a statement acknowledging that the phony certificates they signed in December 2020 were “used as part of an attempt to improperly overturn” the lawful election results.
“We hereby reaffirm that Joseph R. Biden, Jr. won the 2020 presidential election and that we were not the duly elected presidential electors for the State of Wisconsin for the 2020 presidential election,” says a portion of their statement. “We oppose any attempt to undermine the public’s faith in the ultimate results of the 2020 presidential election.”
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