Michigan prosecutors consider Donald Trump a co-conspirator in the GOP plot to use false electors to overturn the 2020 election.
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. 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.
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Trump, Meadows, and Guilani are currently considered unindicted co-conspirators. This doesn’t mean they will remain unindicted co-conspirators, but they participated in the plot and have not been charged yet.
With Trump already facing four criminal trials, charging him in Michigan could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. There are reasons not to charge Trump and his associates at this time, and they mostly involve the fact that as we have seen in Georgia, charging Trump slows every case down.
If prosecutors want to get this case wrapped up quickly, they could hold off on charging Trump until they have finished prosecuting others who were involved with the plot.
Trump is trying to flip Michigan and return to the White House, but the fake elector plot and his role in it could crush those hopes.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelorâs Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association