The Republican efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election were multifaceted, but among the strikingly partisan tactics was the fake electors scheme: GOP officials and operatives in key states created forged election materials and sent the documents to, among others, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Archivist, as if the materials were legitimate. They were not.
Though the relevant players didn’t know it at the time, the controversy has become one of the most consequential political scandals in a generation, racking up indictment totals unseen since Watergate and Iran-Contra.
That total is still growing. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported this morning that Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has filed felony forgery charges against three officials from Donald Trump’s 2020 team.
The charges are filed in Dane County Circuit Court against Kenneth Chesebro, a Wisconsin native and lead architect of the 2020 fake elector plan; former Dane County Judge Jim Troupis, who represented Trump in Wisconsin during the 2020 election; and Mike Roman, a former Trump aide who allegedly delivered Wisconsin’s slate of false elector paperwork to a Pennsylvania congressman’s staffer in order to get them to Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021.
The Washington Post reported in April that these charges were a real possibility. Evidently, that was true.
What’s more, the timing is striking: As Rachel explained on last night’s show, state and federal investigations into the same scandal in Michigan appear to be intensifying in ways that have surprised nearly everyone.
For those keeping score, let’s count up the number of indictments currently pending in the scandal across multiple jurisdictions:
Arizona: 18 people have been indicted, including 11 fake electors and seven Trump aides.
Georgia: 19 people were initially indicted, including Trump, though some have since reached plea agreements with prosecutors.
Michigan: 16 people have been indicted, though there are several other prominent unindicted alleged co-conspirators, and there’s a very real possibility that others will soon face related charges. Nevada: Six people have been indicted, each of whom served as fake electors. Wisconsin: Three people have been indicted. To be sure, there is some overlap between the indictments — some of the key officials have been indicted in more than one jurisdiction — but it’s nevertheless a striking total, which might yet grow. Watch this space. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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