Donald Trump Fake Electors Trial Begins in Michigan

The Donald Trump Fake Electors scheme has finally reached the courts, as six of the former president's fake electors in Michigan appeared in court for the first time in Lansing. Each of them is facing eight counts, including fraud and conspiracy to commit election fraud.

The preliminary hearing for six of the 16 alleged fake electors began with testimony from Michigan State Police Capt. Darren Green, who was the man who denied the 16 alleged Donald Trump fake electors entry into the Michigan State Capitol building. The fake electors allegedly tried getting inside and claimed they were the legitimate electors who would be voting for who won Michigan in 2020.

Captain Green was asked if he was given a list of who was allowed in the building on December 14, 2020, when Michigan's electoral votes were being cast. To this, he answered yes but added, "Well, I didn't have the list, but I was told via radio that the 16 people who were there to vote for the electoral college had been checked in and were present inside the Senate chambers and that no other people were allowed in."

Much like fake Donald Trump electors in other states, the Michigan fake electors would have passed themselves off as the real electors and voted for Donald Trump instead of the state's actual winner, Joe Biden, thereby giving the Michigan electoral votes to Trump instead, despite losing the state.

Michigan Assistant Attorney General Ladonna Logan also played a clip of the video where all 16 of the fake electors were denied entry by Captain Green, according to CBS News. Also testifying on that day were Jonathan Brater who worked with the Michigan Secretary of State's office and James Van de Putte with the US Postal Service.

Donald Trump Fake Electors in Michigan Insist They Did Nothing Wrong

In this initial batch of fake Michigan electors, there were seven who were originally scheduled to appear. However, one of them, Kenneth Thompson, had his case postponed as the lawyer representing him failed to show up. The other eight defendants will have preliminary examinations at later dates.

Among those whose cases were heard during the trial include former Michigan state Republican Party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock and Kathy Berden, a Michigan committeewoman for the Republican National Committee. All defendants, except for one named James Renner, pleaded not guilty. Renner had criminal charges against him dropped because he was cooperating with prosecutors.

As for the others, they remained defiant and continued to insist that they did not do anything illegal. They claimed that they were the state's "duly elected and qualified electors" but they were not, and this counts as fraud.

Donald Trump Was Briefed on Fake Electors and January 6, Says Report

Trump tried his Fake Electors scheme in several key battleground states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Georgia. A new CNN report showed that Trump was indeed briefed about their efforts in those states and about what they should do on January 6.

During a briefing, one of Trump's Georgia co-defendants, Kenneth Chesebro, the mastermind of the fake electors scheme, told the then-president that the "alternate electors" he helped assemble in Arizona and six other states gave Trump an opening to continue contesting the election. Chesebro claimed that this would be until the results were certified, and that fell on the fateful day of January 6, 2021.

These comments caused problems as they renewed Trump's hope that he could somehow overturn the election results which he lost. This information reportedly came from Chesebro himself as he spoke with Michigan state prosecutors investigating the fake electors plot.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Newly revealed recordings from 2020 show attorney briefed Trump on fake electors - CNN