Law enforcement is still pursuing Michigan’s 2020 GOP electors who are accused of manipulating the election results; however, a prosecution witness could have provided support for their case.
While a prosecutor can use a preliminary examination to persuade a judge that a crime was committed and that the accused person was responsible for it, Assistant Attorney General LaDonna Logan’s preliminary examination may not have gone exactly as planned.
Six Michigan Republican electors who are accused of election tampering had their preliminary examination on December 13 and 14, in a small courtroom presided over by Democratic Lansing District Court Judge Kristen Simmons.
About thirty people, including several reporters, the regular court staff, the attorneys general of Michigan, six defendants and their attorneys, and others, crowded the small courtroom on both days.
Tony Zammit, a prosecution witness, repeatedly said things on the witness stand that appeared to clear the 15 Michigan Trump electors who are still facing eight felony counts.
As the Republican Party of Michigan’s director of communications in 2020, Mr. Zammit was present in the building on December 14, 2020, when the electorate signed significant documents indicating their conviction that Donald Trump should receive the electoral votes they cast for him because he had actually won Michigan.
An earlier interview with The Epoch Times revealed that one defense lawyer referred to the electors’ actions as a “political protest.”
In his testimony, Mr. Zammit stated that there was “no plan to replace the Republican electors with the Democratic electors.” According to him, the GOP electors gathered in Lansing on December 14 were offering themselves as a “placeholder” or “contingency” slate in the unlikely event that the results of the official Michigan election were overturned.
Several court cases remained unresolved and numerous voter fraud complaints were the focus of ongoing investigations at the time of the meeting.
According to Mr. Zammit’s testimony, the electors signed documents on December 14, 2020, fearing that if the state’s official election results were eventually overturned and Donald Trump was declared the winner, Michigan The right to vote would be taken away from voters.
In the documents they signed, voters declared that they were “willing to serve if evidence was found in a court of law to overturn the election,” according to Mr. Zammit.
The signing occurred in the GOP headquarters just as Michigan’s 16 Democratic electors were gathering to cast their ballots for Joe Biden in the adjacent State Capitol Building.
The Capitol Building was closed to the public and GOP electors.
“That’s not the case… some were not criminally culpable,” Mr. Zammit testified, upset by a flurry of negative media reports that followed, portraying Republican electors as having intentionally committed a crime. Most of them had nothing to do with it. They followed the lawyers’ lead during the meeting.
According to Mr. Zammit’s testimony, he brought his concerns to the attention of the Michigan Attorney General’s office and then-Congresswoman Liz Cheney of the January 6 Committee.
Laura Cox, the chairperson of the Michigan GOP in 2020, testified before prosecutors that no plans existed to substitute Republican electors for Democrat electors absent a court order to overturn the election results.
Initially, each of the 16 GOP electors faced eight felony counts; however, James Renner, one of the electors, had his charges against him withdrawn in exchange for his cooperation with the prosecution.
Is it a political ploy or forgery?
Prosecutors produced the two-page document that the electors had signed as proof. It was printed on regular bond paper using black ink. The defense presented the elaborate, official, State of Michigan-issued Certificate of Votes as evidence, along with an attached Certificate of Ascertainment signed by the governor, which contrasted sharply with those simple pages.
The colourful, official certificates that Michigan government officials sent to Washington, D.C. after the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections were the documents that the defence submitted. Each one was a single page with blue brocade around the edges and the golden Great Seal of the State of Michigan embossed on it.
A defence lawyer said he would be happy to frame and display such a beautiful document on his wall. His argument is that the defendants charged with forgery showed no intention of misleading or defrauding anyone because they did not attempt to imitate the embellishments of the official state certification form.
The signatures of Michigan’s Republican electors were included in the official electoral college certification notice sent to Congress that year because Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by a contentious 10,000 votes in the state.
Similarly, Joe Biden emerged officially as the winner of Michigan’s 2020 popular vote by 154,000 votes, despite a flurry of complaints, investigations, and legal challenges. The signatures of the Democratic electors in the state were on the certification form that was sent to Washington that year.
No Will to Falsify, Ignore, or Defraud
The exhibits added to the record clearly showed that the purported forgers did not attempt to copy or fake the official state documents or the signatures of the 2020 Democratic electors. Instead, on page two of a two-page document that is what it purports to be and doesn’t resemble the official state certifications, they signed their own names.
In order to be charged with election law forgery in Michigan, the accused must have knowingly created, submitted, or published a false document with the intention of defrauding.
The document must also intentionally include a fake signature with the goal to deceive.
The Email that Sparked the Prosecution
A notification from Michigan Bureau of Elections Director Jonathan Brater provided the catalyst for Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel to launch an investigation into the GOP electors’ actions.
Mr. Brater testified that he received an email “from an individual at the National Archives” on January 8, 2021, not long after taking up his current position. The email contained what he called a “unusual” document about a different slate of electors from Michigan. He claimed that at first glance, he thought it might be a civil issue rather than a criminal one.
Mr. Brater said he first spoke with an attorney from the AG’s office’s civil division, even though he reports directly to Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson of Michigan.
Subsequently, the matter reached the desks of the Ingham County Prosecutor and two U.S. Attorneys from separate districts; however, none of them chose to press charges against the electors.
Then, in July 2023, 941 days after the purported offence, Ms. Nessel filed eight felony counts of election forgery against each of the sixteen 2020 Republican electors.
Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Mexico, and Wisconsin offered themselves as contingency GOP electors for the 2020 election; of these, only Michigan decided to pursue legal action.
Hawaii’s 1960 precedent
Mr. Brater was questioned by defence attorneys regarding the 1960 presidential election, in which Republican Richard Nixon was recognized as the winner of the Hawaii state popular vote.
The Democratic Party of Hawaii filed a “placeholder” slate of electors following certification, in case the election outcome was reversed in favor of Democrat John F. Kennedy, but before a recount was finished.
After all was said and done, Mr. Kennedy was declared the victor of the popular vote and received the electoral votes from the state of Hawaii.
Defence lawyers claim that if Hawaii Democrats had not submitted a backup slate, their state’s electoral votes would not have been taken into account, and they would not have been represented in the electoral college that year.
Mr. Brater admitted in his testimony that he was aware of the Hawaii case, but not in great detail.
Not an Absolute Democracy
Voters for Donald Trump supported a group of presidential electors who would support him should he win the state’s popular vote, even though his name was listed on the ballot for November 3, 2020.
In August 2020, the Republican Party convened virtually to select its presidential electors. Additionally, the Democratic Party presented a list of nominees for president.
The secretary of state then received certification from the electors, who had been duly elected by their respective parties, attesting to their eligibility to serve should their party’s presidential candidate win the general election. The secretary of state sent a certificate of election to each elector.
The defence presented court documents proving the Republican electors were legitimately elected by the Michigan Republican Party convention in August 2020, despite the prosecution’s attempts to prove they are a phoney slate pretending to be duly elected.
For the six electors, whose preliminary examination is scheduled for February 13 and 14, 2024, the ordeal is far from over.
They are Kathy Berden, 70, Mary Ann Henry, 65, John Haggard, 82, Michele Lundgren, 73, Amy Facchinello, 55, and Meshsawn Maddock, 55.
For the remaining electors, there are different court dates.
