In court, Michigan Republicans tie false elector effort to Donald Trump's campaign

Lansing — Testifying in court Thursday, top Michigan Republicans linked the organization and execution of a false certificate saying Donald Trump won the state's 2020 presidential election directly to Trump's campaign.

While the Trump campaign has previously been tied to the overall strategy of crafting electoral certificates in seven battleground states, the testimony Thursday described campaign staffers as being involved in recruiting attendees and running the meeting of the false electors in Lansing on Dec. 14, 2020. During that gathering, 16 Republican activists signed a document that was used to claim the then-incumbent Republican president won Michigan's 16 electoral votes.

The revelations came on the second day of preliminary examinations for six of the Republican electors as Attorney General Dana Nessel's office pursues criminal forgery charges against those whose names appeared on the false certificate.

Tony Zammit, the former communications director for the Michigan Republican Party, testified that it was Shawn Flynn, a lawyer for Trump's campaign in Michigan, who gaveled in the meeting in the basement of party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020.

Zammit, who was in the building at the time but not present for the entire meeting, said he thought Flynn had taken advantage of the Republicans who participated in signing the document. "I thought they were going along with what the lawyers were telling them," he said.

Flynn didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday afternoon.

Zammit's remarks could be key because prosecutors must eventually prove the Republicans who signed the false electoral certificate had an "intent to defraud," a standard that could be more difficult to reach if lawyers working for Trump were indeed directing the Michigan Republicans to take the actions they did or if the Republican activists didn't understand what they were signing.

Paul Stablein, a lawyer for Republican elector Amy Facchinello of Grand Blanc, said Nessel's team had failed, so far, to establish the key element of the charges they brought.

"Clearly, they're relying on lawyers from the Trump campaign that are the ones that are telling them what to do," Stablein said of the Republican electors after court adjourned Thursday.

Zammit also testified that Flynn had been directed to submit the false certificate to the federal government.

"Can you believe that I have to send this to the secretary of state, the vice president and the National Archives?” Zammit said he heard Flynn say on Dec. 14, 2020.

One prominent Republican backed out

Ingham County 54-A District Court Judge Kristen Simmons, who will have to decide whether the elector cases can proceed to trial, heard two days of testimony, wrapping up Thursday. The preliminary exams for six of the Republicans will continue on Feb. 13.

For the first time Thursday, Terri Lynn Land, who served as Michigan's top election official from 2003 through 2010, explained why she didn't attend the Dec. 14, 2020, gathering despite being one of the 16 Republicans originally picked at a state convention to serve as a GOP presidential elector.

Land, the former secretary of state, said because the Board of State Canvassers determined Democrat Joe Biden won Michigan's election, she didn't understand why the GOP electors were meeting and no one detailed to her why the event was necessary.

"I didn't have the information to make a decision," Land testified of not showing up for the meeting.

Meshawn Maddock, another GOP elector, had called Land and asked her to attend the Dec. 14, 2020, gathering, Land testified.

"She said that Trump lawyers asked her to call me to invite me to this meeting," said Land, of Byron Center, who was elected to the Wayne State University Board of Governors in the November 2020 election.

Land said she told Maddock to have the Trump lawyers contact her directly, but they never did.

After the court session ended, Maddock seemingly confirmed Land's statement, telling reporters that she had heard from Flynn that there were "attorneys that wanted us to meet" on Dec. 14, 2020.

But Maddock and other electors' lawyers have said the Republicans signed only one page of the false electoral certificate that was later submitted to Congress. The first page, which claimed Trump won Michigan's electoral vote, wasn't presented with the signature page in the basement, they said.

Capitol sleepover idea abandoned

Laura Cox, the chairwoman of the Michigan GOP in 2020, testified Thursday she had concerns over the certificate Republicans signed on Dec. 14, 2020, claiming to be the state's presidential electors, and a plan to sleep overnight in the Capitol in support of the effort.

"They weren’t the electors at that moment ... in my opinion," Cox said of Dec. 14, 2020.

Cox, a former state lawmaker, said she wanted the Republicans to use a different document that simply said they were "available to meet and perform their duties as a presidential elector." Cox said her document had been developed by Stu Sandler, the Michigan GOP's general counsel, and had the support of Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and a lawyer with the Trump campaign, Thor Hearne.

Cox said she had been informed by Robert Norton, general counsel for Hillsdale College, of a plan to have the Republican electors "spend the night in the Capitol on Dec. 13 to cast the votes" for Trump on Dec. 14, 2020.

"In my gut, I didn’t think it was very good idea," she said.

The sleepover was proposed — but later abandoned — because, under Michigan law, the state's presidential electors were required to convene inside the Michigan Senate chamber at 2 p.m. Dec. 14, 2020. However, the state's true electors were scheduled to meet inside the Senate chamber at the time, and the building was closed to the public because of security concerns.

Cox said she contacted then-Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, and asked him to figure out which individual with space in the Capitol was going to host the Republicans and put a stop to it before Dec. 14, 2020.

It wasn't clear Thursday who was responsible for getting the Republicans to sign a different document when they met inside Michigan Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, than the one Cox advanced.

But Cox, who wasn't present at the gathering because she had COVID-19, agreed with a question from a defense lawyer that the Trump campaign had gone against her instructions.

More:In court, Michigan elections director says he contacted AG about false Trump electors

'Puzzled as ever'

Thursday's testimony came as Nessel's office continued to present arguments Thursday about why six of the Republicans who signed the certificate falsely claiming Trump won the 2020 election should be bound over for trial.

Some of the defense lawyers for the Republicans have suggested that their clients didn't know what they were signing on Dec. 14, 2020, and they didn't have an intent to defraud anyone, a required element for the charges being brought to be successful.

Mary Chartier, the lawyer for Republican John Haggard, asked Cox if she knew what Haggard was told on Dec. 14, 2020, and what he believed. Cox responded she didn't.

Afterward, Chartier said she was "as puzzled as ever" about why the Republican electors had been charged with serious felonies.

The preliminary exams are the first major test of the charges Nessel, a Democrat, launched in July against the group of Republicans who falsely claimed to be Michigan's presidential electors as Trump's campaign sought to challenge Democrat Joe Biden's victory in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

The six Republicans whose cases went before Ingham County District Court Judge Kristen Simmons this week included former Maddock of Milford, a former Michigan GOP co-chair, and Kathy Berden, formerly of Snover, who is Michigan's current Republican national committeewoman.

The other four Republican electors whose preliminary exams began this week were Facchinello of Grand Blanc, Haggard of Charlevoix, Mari-Ann Henry of Brighton and Michele Lundgren of Detroit.

The exams for nine other Republican electors are scheduled to take place next year.

Each elector initially faced eight felony counts, including forgery and conspiracy to commit election law forgery.

Nessel's office dropped the charges against one of the 16 electors, James Renner of Lansing, as part of a cooperation deal in October. Other Republican electors will have their preliminary exams next year.

cmauger@detroitnews.com