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Trump is a co-conspirator in Michigan's 2020 false electors plot, state investigator says

Craig Mauger, The Detroit News on

Published in News & Features

LANSING, Michigan — Michigan prosecutors consider former President Donald Trump and some of his top aides co-conspirators in the plot to submit a certificate falsely claiming he won Michigan's 2020 election, an investigator for Attorney General Dana Nessel's office testified Wednesday in court.

Howard Shock, a special agent for Nessel, said Trump; Mark Meadows, who was Trump's chief of staff; and Rudy Giuliani, who was his personal lawyer, are "unindicted co-conspirators" in Michigan's false elector case. In total, over the last two days, Shock has identified 11 conspirators who haven't been charged with a crime. That means prosecutors believe they participated, to some extent, in an alleged scheme to commit forgery by creating a false document asserting Trump had won Michigan's 16 electoral votes when Democrat Joe Biden had won them.

Shock's testimony came on the sixth day of preliminary examinations in Ingham County District Court as Nessel's office pursues felony charges against a group of Republican activists who signed the certificate of votes claiming Trump won.

In July, Nessel, a Democrat, charged the 16 Republican electors with eight felonies each, including conspiracy to commit forgery, which would carry a penalty of up to 14 years behind bars. But Nessel's office has said its investigation is ongoing.

On Wednesday morning, lawyer Duane Silverthorn, who's representing elector Michele Lundgren of Detroit, read a list of names, asking Shock if the individuals were unindicted conspirators in the probe.

Shock said "yes" to Trump, Giuliani and Meadows. Trump is set to be the Republican presidential nominee this fall.

 

Shock also said "yes" to former Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Laura Cox and the names of other Michigan Republicans, including former state House Speaker Tom Leonard, his wife, Jenell Leonard, and Stu Sandler, a GOP consultant and legal adviser to Cox. Silverthorn didn't ask Shock for additional details of the co-conspirators' alleged involvement.

Sandler labeled Shock's comments "outrageous."

"I stand by the sound legal advice I gave, and these partisan lawfare prosecutions have to stop," Sandler said. "Why in five years of Dana Nessel are only Republicans the continuing targets of these partisan lawfare prosecutions?"

It's unclear what Tom Leonard, who ran against Nessel for attorney general in 2018, is alleged to have done. Jenell Leonard was the Clinton County Republican Party chairwoman in 2020, and James Renner of Lansing, one of the GOP electors, previously testified that she contacted him about the Dec. 14, 2020, meeting where the certificate was signed.

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