Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson sent a congressional panel and the U.S. Attorney General information suggesting the Trump campaign coordinated with Michigan Republicans to overturn the state’s 2020 election result.
Federal prosecutors are reviewing referrals from attorneys general in Michigan and other swing states where Republicans signed illegitimate certificates falsely claiming former President Donald Trump won. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said she forwarded her investigation in the hopes that federal prosecutors would track down whether the Trump campaign was behind a multi-state scheme to overturn states he lost.
Benson and other staff in the Michigan Department of State were interviewed by a U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 riot. The department also forwarded a copy of the unofficial certificates, which were signed by Michigan Republican Party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock and 15 other Republican electors.
Maddock was an adviser for Trump’s campaign in Michigan, promoted “stop the steal” rallies and organized bus travel to protests in Washington, D.C. for Jan. 6.
Benson sent the Tuesday letter to the House committee and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland with additional details of alleged coordination between the Trump campaign and Michigan Republicans.
In a statement, Benson said her office has been able to “connect the dots” between efforts in Michigan and across the country to overturn what she called the most secure election in history.
“Thank you for your continued work reviewing the circumstances across the country that led to the Jan. 6 attack on our capitol and our democracy,” Benson wrote. “I provide this information about Michigan to assist you in your pursuit of justice, as it is my firm belief that all Americans have a patriotic duty to our democracy to support your work.”
Benson pointed to a recording of Maddock telling activists that the Trump campaign asked Republicans to seat electors despite losing the state. The audio was taken from a January event hosted by Stand Up Michigan.
“We fought to seat the electors. The Trump campaign asked us to do that,” Maddock said in the recording. “I’m under a lot of scrutiny for that today.”
Benson also highlighted the connection between Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis and the false elector strategy. Ellis was employed by an organization that filed lawsuits to prevent the certification of electoral votes in Michigan.
Ellis and Trump attorney Rudy Guiliani also encouraged Michigan lawmakers to block the certification of the election results at a Michigan House Oversight Committee in December 2020.
“We sit before you today on behalf of the president of the United States,” Ellis said at the time.
Ellis served as special counsel to the Thomas More Society. That organization established the Amistad Project, which filed unsuccessful lawsuits challenging the election in Michigan and other battleground states.
A lawyer with the Amistad Project tried to lead Trump electors into the Michigan Capitol, but the group was turned away. Documents signed by the Michigan Republicans falsely claimed they cast votes inside the state Capitol, as required by law.
Michigan’s Democratic electors cast official votes for President Joe Biden the same day.
Benson also highlighted documents released by Politico which show the Trump administration considered seizing voting machines based on a discredited report on Antrim County election equipment.
Benson said an early copy of the report was apparently given to Sidney Powell, a former Trump attorney who represented Michigan Republican Party Grassroots Vice Chair Marian Sheridan and others in another failed election lawsuit. Details of the report, which have not held up under scrutiny, appeared in the Powell lawsuit before it was publicly released.
A copy of the draft executive order, which was never signed by Trump, references a discredited report that falsely claimed Dominion Voting Systems machines were designed to influence election results. The report was created on behalf of a plaintiff who unsuccessfully sued Antrim County seeking a new audit of the results.
A detailed analysis by the co-chair of Michigan’s Election Security Advisory Commission determined the Antrim County report was littered with inaccuracies. The analysis concluded that votes were miscounted due to the mishandling of last-minute ballot design changes.
The Antrim County Report was created by Allied Security Operations Group. Ellis referred to the examiners as “our team” during a 2020 Fox News interview.
“What remains unclear is the extent to which the authors of the false report drafted it to lay the groundwork for the former president’s executive order, and if they did so at his direction or the direction of his campaign,” Benson wrote.
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