LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says there’s “absolutely” enough evidence to criminally charge a group of people who signed a certificate falsely claiming to be the state’s presidential electors.
The incident happened back in December 2020 when 16 Republicans, including Michigan GOP Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock, met to sign the certificate, which falsely labeled them as the state’s “duly elected and qualified electors.” The group also tried to gain access to the Capitol, but were turned away by state police.
Nessel, a Democrat, says the document was then sent to federal officials in an attempt to award the state’s electoral votes to former President Donald Trump.
In reality, the actual state electors were meeting in the state Capitol that day to award the votes to President Joe Biden, who won Michigan by three percentage points.
In a press call Tuesday, Nessel said she believes the actions amount to fraud, including forgery, and she has forwarded her year-long investigation to federal prosecutors, who she says are better suited to handle the investigation.
READ MORE: Michigan AG asks feds to investigate fake GOP electors
The A.G. also says she hasn’t ruled out charging the group at the state level.
“I can’t comment on the investigation at this point. I will say that again, I feel confident that we have enough evidence to charge should we decide to pursue that. I want to make it clear I haven’t ruled it, but for all the reasons I stated I think it’s a better idea for the feds to pursue," Nessel said.
Republicans in a handful of other states tried something similar following the 2020 election and Nessel believes that points to a bigger conspiracy among the groups.
The Michigan Republican Party accused Nessel of playing political games. "This is nothing more than political prosecution of convenience led by Dana Nessel,” said Michigan GOP Communications Director Gustavo Portela.
“Dana Nessel is playing political games with people’s lives and livelihoods for the sake of scoring political points ahead of an election. It’s shameful that she’s had this information for a year but waited until her political ally was sworn into federal office before referring it over,” he added.
