LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed charges Tuesday against 16 Michigan residents for their role in the "false electors" plan surrounding the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
They’re accused of using the political system to overturn former President Donald Trump’s loss in Michigan.
The charges were announced Tuesday around 4 p.m. All defendants have been charged with eight felonies each. Seven of the 16 charged are from Southeast Michigan.
One of the defendants 7 Action News contacted Tuesday said he was surprised to learn all 16 people are going to be charged with eight felony counts.
“This plan to reject the will of the voters and undermine democracy was fraudulent and legally baseless,” Nessel said in a recorded address announcing the charges.
Nessel said the 16 people, who all signed their names to a document in 2020, claimed to be Michigan’s electors for president and vice president. Despite results showing President Joe Biden won the state by 150,000, the false letter said the state’s 16 electoral votes would be cast for Trump.
“That was a lie. They weren't the duly elected and qualified electors, and each of the defendants knew it,” the attorney general said.
Nessel alleges the 16 members met covertly in the basement of the Michigan Republican Party headquarters before eventually trying to enter the state Capitol in an attempt to overturn the state’s election results.
One of the defendants is Shelby Township Clerk Stanley Grot. At the township board meeting Tuesday night, we asked him his reaction after hearing about the charges.
“I have no comments for you at all. We are in legal process and whatever it takes us,” Grot said.
When we spoke with John Haggard of Charlevoix, another defendant, he had not yet gone through the charges.
“I have no idea what she’s filed,” Haggard said.
He said he doesn’t understand why Nessel filed charges and believes it’s for publicity.
“I signed a paper that said that Donald Trump won. I guess she doesn’t believe in the First Amendment in order that I can say what I want to say,” Haggard said.
Other defendants include the current mayor of Wyoming, a city just outside Grand Rapids, and former Michigan Republican Party Co-chair Meshawn Maddock. She and all others we contacted did not respond for comment.
As a person who runs elections in Shelby Township, we asked the Grot if there are any problems with facing election-based charged. He had no comment.
Nessel says she has not ruled out charges against other defendants in this case.
All 16 people charged will be arraigned individually in court in Ingham County, but no date has been set yet.
Nessel's office released a list of those charged in connection with the case:
- Kathy Berden, 70, of Snover
- William (Hank) Choate, 72, of Cement City
- Amy Facchinello, 55, of Grand Blanc
- Clifford Frost, 75, of Warren
- Stanley Grot, 71, of Shelby Township
- John Haggard, 82, of Charlevoix
- Mary-Ann Henry, 65, of Brighton
- Timothy King, 56, of Ypsilanti
- Michele Lundgren, 73, of Detroit
- Meshawn Maddock, 55, of Milford
- James Renner, 76, of Lansing
- Mayra Rodriguez, 64, of Grosse Pointe Farms
- Rose Rook, 81, of Paw Paw
- Marian Sheridan, 69, of West Bloomfield
- Ken Thompson, 68, of Orleans
- Kent Vanderwood, 69, of Wyoming
Each has been charged with the following:
- One count of conspiracy to commit forgery, a 14-year felony
- Two counts of forgery, a 14-year felony
- One count of conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing, a 14-year felony
- One count of uttering and publishing, a 14-year felony
- One count of conspiracy to commit election law forgery, a five-year felony
- Two counts of election law forgery, a five-year felony
