The Republican "fake electors" criminally charged in Michigan for signing a fraudulent certificate attesting former President Donald Trump won the state in 2020 had their attorneys suggest in court on Tuesday that "their clients might not have read the key page of the document," reported Craig Mauger for the Detroit News.
These false electors, who were charged by state Attorney General Dana Nessel, face prosecution as similar criminal charges advance against the fake Trump electors in other battleground states, including Arizona and Georgia. 16 people are charged in the Michigan case, including several longtime GOP operatives.
"If the Michigan GOP electors truly weren't presented the false certificate of the vote, there would seem to be a major question about which adviser later attached their signatures to the certificate without their knowledge," noted Mauger.
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Additional drama unfolded during the hearing as Ingham County District Court Judge Kristen Simmons warned the prosecution, at the defense's request to stop using the term "false electors," as the actual charges against them are for forgery, and state law does not explicitly call out falsely claiming to be an elector as a crime. Simmons stopped just short of actually issuing a formal order for the time being, however, and simply asked the prosecution to change its wording.
This case has been marked with drama for months.
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Last December, one of the people indicted in the scheme, James Renner, stated in an interview he was sorry for his involvement and claimed to have been duped by Republican state officials.
More recently, last month, Simmons threatened Nicholas Somberg, an attorney representing co-defendant and former Michigan Republican Party co-chair Meshawn Maddock, with contempt after he made posts on social media calling Renner the "AG’s star snitch," citing it as a potential act of witness intimidation. Simmons called the comments "juvenile and ridiculous."