Arraignments are underway Thursday for most of the 16 Michigan Republicans who served as fake electors in 2020 and are expected to plead not guilty to the first-of-their-kind felony charges.
The group of Donald Trump supporters were hit with state charges last month over their role in the former president's campaign's seven-state plan to subvert the Electoral College and overturn the 2020 election results by supplanting lawful Democratic electors with fake Republican electors.
Some of the 16 defendants have pleaded not guilty and were released on $1,000 bond.
Each of the fake Michigan electors were charged with eight state felonies, including forgery, conspiracy to commit election law forgery, and publishing a counterfeit record. Some of their defense attorneys have already said they'll challenge the novel case and will try to get the charges dropped. The case is unfolding in Ingham County District Court.
The defendants include current and former Michigan Republican Party officials, a member of the Republican National Committee, a mayor, a school board member and a town clerk. Some have said they were tricked into signing the fake elector certificates and didn't intend to break the law, while others are still peddling the lie that former President Donald Trump won a second term.
Two weeks after Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the state charges, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith indicted Trump on federal charges stemming from his attempts to overturn the 2020 election. The sweeping indictment accused Trump of trying to "subvert the legitimate election results and change electoral votes" with the fake elector plot.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the federal indictment, which was filed in Washington, DC.
Some of the Michigan defendants have claimed Nessel, a Democrat, is wrongly targeting political opponents. She has denied these allegations, and instead argues it would have been "political" if she hadn't filed the charges despite "overwhelming evidence of guilt."
The 16 defendants are former Michigan GOP co-chair Meshawn Maddock; current Michigan GOP vice chair Marian Sheridan; RNC committeewoman Kathy Berden; Wyoming, Michigan, Mayor Kent Vanderwood; Shelby Township clerk Stanley Grot; Grand Blanc school board member Amy Facchinello; local GOP officials Rose Rook and Mari-Ann Henry; pro-Trump lawsuit plaintiffs John Haggard and Timothy King; unsuccessful GOP candidates Clifford Frost and Michele Lundgren; and Hank Choate, James Renner, Mayra Rodriguez and Ken Thompson.