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

Lansing — Former President Donald Trump and some of his top aides were 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, as new details of the effort to prosecute the alleged scheme took shape in two battleground states.

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 considered "unindicted co-conspirators" in Michigan's false elector case. Shock's comments came the same day that 11 Arizona Republican electors and seven other Trump allies, including Meadows and Giuliani, were indicted in Arizona.

In total, over the last two days, Shock, the Michigan investigator, identified 11 conspirators who haven't been charged with a crime. That means Michigan 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 highlighted 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.

Eleven Republicans in Arizona who submitted a similar false certificate were charged Wednesday with conspiracy, fraud and forgery, according to the Associated Press. The Arizona grand jury indictment described an unindicted co-conspirator who is clearly Trump.

In Michigan, 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 state's 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.

"I have been informed that my name was presented in a false and derogatory manner in open court," Tom Leonard said Wednesday. "I would expect the Attorney General to move swiftly, as ethically required, to correct the testimony whether intentionally misleading or mistaken."

Giuliani adviser rebukes assertion

On Tuesday, Shock also described Mike Roman, who was Trump's director of Election Day operations, as an unindicted conspirator.

"Are there other unindicted co-conspirators?" Silverthorn asked Wednesday. "I am going to read you a list of names.”

"Former President Trump?" Silverthorn asked.

"Yes," Shock replied.

A spokesman for Trump's campaign didn't immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

Shock also said Wednesday that Jenna Ellis and Kenneth Chesebro, two lawyers who worked with the Trump campaign in the weeks after the Nov. 3, 2020, presidential election, are also unindicted co-conspirators, along with Chris Velasco, who worked for Trump's campaign in Michigan.

The objective of the electors' effort was to bolster claims that the election was "rigged" and ultimately "void the results favoring" Biden, wrote Chesebro, who helped create the electors plan, in a Jan. 1, 2021, email to Boris Epshteyn, a top Trump adviser.

Ellis appeared with Giuliani in Lansing during a Dec. 2, 2020, hearing of the Michigan House Oversight Committee on unproven claims of election fraud. During the meeting, Giuliani urged Michigan lawmakers to intervene in the results of the election.

Ted Goodman, a political adviser to Giuliani, said the "continued weaponization of our justice system should concern all Michiganders and Americans."

"It's unfortunate to see so many so-called “leaders” who are willing to eviscerate our entire justice system in their quest to take down President Donald Trump and anyone willing to take on the ruling regime," Goodman said.

Trial decision delayed

The preliminary examinations for six of the Republican electors concluded Wednesday. Through the proceedings, Ingham County District Judge Kristen Simmons will eventually determine whether Nessel's office has presented enough evidence to show there is probable cause to believe that crimes occurred and the defendants should be bound over for trial.

But that decision won't come until after nine other GOP electors' preliminary examinations end in early June. Those court hearings are set to begin May 28.

Cox, who was the leader of the Michigan GOP at the time of the 2020 election, testified in the first round of examinations in December. Cox said she had concerns over the certificate Republicans signed on Dec. 14, 2020.

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

Cox, a former state lawmaker from Livonia, 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," instead of claiming they were casting Michigan's electoral votes for Trump.

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

Some of the defense lawyers have argued that their clients didn't understand what they were signing when they gathered in Michigan GOP headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020. They've also contended that it was Trump campaign advisers who orchestrated the false certificate.

During a hearing in February, Kahla Crino, an assistant attorney general, described the effort to submit false certificates claiming Trump won the 2020 presidential election as a "multi-state criminal conspiracy that was absolutely linked" to Trump's campaign.

Internal Trump campaign emails obtained by investigators and previously reviewed by The Detroit News showed Trump's campaign staff helped coordinate the Republicans' meeting on Dec. 14, 2020, when the electors signed the certificate.

Later, someone submitted the false certificate to the U.S. Senate and the National Archives. That's despite the fact that Biden won Michigan's 16 electoral votes and his victory had been certified by the Board of State Canvassers.

More:Trump's campaign guided filing of Michigan's false electors certificate, emails show

Trump and his campaign have previously criticized allegations that he acted improperly after the 2020 presidential election.

"Trump was carrying out his duty as president to investigate the rigged and stolen 2020 presidential election," Steven Cheung, Trump's campaign spokesperson, said in a statement on Jan. 4.

Trump is already facing charges linked to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election at the federal level, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, and in Georgia, brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Defense lawyers called no witnesses as part of the initial round of preliminary examinations for the Michigan electors. Four of the other elector defendants are Meshawn Maddock of Milford, a former Michigan GOP co-chair; John Haggard of Charlevoix; Amy Facchinello of Grand Blanc; and Mari-Ann Henry of Brighton.

George Donnini, who's representing elector Kathy Berden of Snover, said he believes defense attorneys did everything they could to argue that the certificate was contingent on "something happening between Dec. 14, 2020, and Jan. 6, 2021," the day Congress convened to certify the results.

"The fact that it didn't ultimately happen didn't matter," Donnini said. "It could have happened. Something could have happened. And that's what's significant."

cmauger@detroitnews.com