LANSING, Mich — One day after 16 Michiganders, including the former Michigan Republican Party Chair, were charged with election fraud in the "false electors scheme," the GOP has responded.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced charges Tuesday against 16 Michigan residents in a "false electors scheme" in the 2020 presidential election.
The charges stem from an alleged conspiracy to award electoral votes from the State of Michigan to President Donald Trump, despite the state being won by President Joe Biden.
Notable people from the group include the current Mayor of Wyoming, Kent Vanderwood, former Van Buren County Chair, Rose Rook, and former Michigan GOP Chair, Meshawn Maddock.
Kristina Karamo, who serves as the current Michigan GOP Chair, accuses Attorney General Nessel of an "authoritarian streak" and says the charges are "political theatre."
"AG Dana Nessel's recent charge of forgery and conspiracy against sixteen alternative electors in Michigan has sparked valid concerns regarding the possible misuse of power by her office. It is crucial to recognize that despite being identified as a liberal, this AG constantly displays authoritarian tendencies and ambitions," Karamo said in a news release.
She also called the charges "illicit."
It is alleged that the defendants met secretly in the basement of the Michigan Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, and signed multiple certificates saying they were the “duly elected and qualified electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America for the State of Michigan.”
The documents were then allegedly sent to the United States Senate and National Archives in an attempt to award the electoral votes from Michigan to the candidate of their choosing.
In a statement made on Monday, Nessel said that "These defendants may have believed the now long-debunked myths of vote tampering or ballot dumps. They may have felt compelled to follow the call to action from a President they held fealty to. They may have even genuinely believed that this was their patriotic duty. But none of those reasons or feelings provide legal justification to violate the law and upend our constitution and our nation’s traditions of representative government, self-determination, and a government by the people."
“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 continued.
Two Democratic state representatives, State Rep. Phil Skaggs (D-East Grand Rapids) and State Rep. John Fitzgerald (D-Wyoming) are calling for Wyoming Mayor Kent Vanderwood to resign.
"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.
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