LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s former state GOP chair testified Thursday that she approved a document saying the state’s Republican electors would cast votes for then-President Donald Trump if Michigan’s 2020 election results were overturned.
But Laura Cox said that document was ceremonial in nature and required a triggering event such as a court overturning Joe Biden’s win.
Cox’s testimony came on the second day of a preliminary hearing in the case against 15 of the Republicans, who face charges including forgery for allegedly serving as false electors. A state police captain and Michigan’s elections director testified on Wednesday.
Investigators say the group signed a document during a meeting at the Michigan GOP headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, falsely stating they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified electors.”
Cox testified that conversations about assembling a slate of Republican electors began early that December, and that she approved another document, created by her counsel.
“The document clearly states that if the election were overturned these electors would serve their job to cast their votes for Donald Trump and Michael Pence,” Cox said.
Cox said the document she approved was intended to “at least” make “the Trump campaign comfortable that we were doing our part.” Her document was signed by Kathy Berden, a Michigan committeewoman for the Republican National Committee.
Berden and other former and current party officials and activists are among the defendants, along with officeholders including a mayor and township clerk. All pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges, including multiple counts of forgery, after Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the charges in July. One, James Renner, agreed to cooperate with the state and had all criminal charges dropped in October.
The defendants have remained steadfast in their defiance since then, insisting that their actions were not illegal, even though President Joe Biden won Michigan by nearly 155,000 votes, a result confirmed by a GOP-led state Senate investigation in 2021.
Fake electors in Michigan and six other battleground states sent certificates to Congress falsely declaring Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential election in their state, despite confirmed results showing he had lost. Last week, Nevada became the third state to charge electors, following Michigan and Georgia. Republicans who served as false electors in Wisconsin, meanwhile, agreed to a legal settlement last week in which they conceded that Biden won the election and that their efforts were part of an attempt to improperly overturn the 2020 results.
Former Michigan state Republican Party co-Chair Meshawn Maddock and Berden were among the six defendants who appeared in court Wednesday. Such hearings don’t involve a jury and are for the judge to determine if there’s sufficient evidence to substantiate the charges.
The six defendants who appeared in court Wednesday are having their cases heard together. A seventh, Kenneth Thompson, had his case postponed because his attorney didn’t show up. The other eight defendants will have preliminary examinations at later dates.
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