Left: Trump campaign attorney James Troupis speaks to Congress about election integrity in Dec. 2020 (Greg Nash/Pool via AP); Center: Lawyer Kenneth Chesebro is sworn in during a plea deal hearing, Oct. 20, 2023, at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta (Alyssa Pointer/Pool Photo via AP, File); Right: Michael Roman appears in a booking photo (Fulton County Jail)
A trio of Trumpworld denizens involved in the so-called “alternate,” or fake, electors plot following the 2020 presidential election have been charged with felony counts of forgery in Wisconsin.
Attorneys Kenneth “Ken” Chesebro, James “Jim” Troupis, and former Trump 2020 campaign staffer Michael “Mike” Roman now stand accused of one count each of forgery by uttering, according to charging documents filed in Dane County Circuit Court on Tuesday.
The statute being used to prosecute the three makes it a Class H felony for anyone who “utters as genuine or possesses with intent to utter as false or as genuine any forged writing or object mentioned in sub. (1), knowing it to have been thus falsely made or altered.”
The cross-referenced statute — referred to as “sub. (1)” — makes it a crime for anyone who “with intent to defraud falsely makes or alters a writing or object of any of the following kinds so that it purports to have been made by another, or at another time, or with different provisions, or by authority of one who did not give such authority.”
The crime carries a maximum sentence of six years in state prison.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said he will hold a press conference at noon on Tuesday “to announce legal action in unappointed electors conspiracy,” according to WISN reporter Matt Smith.
Under the auspices of the fake electors scheme, several dozen Republican Party officials and laypeople across the country worked to have several swing states’ Electoral College votes swapped over to Donald Trump — despite the 45th president losing the vote in each of those states to Joe Biden. In each case, false declarations were signed by would-be “alternate” electors. Corresponding lawsuits were filed that aimed to then have those putative Trump electors.
In each state, the parallel litigation failed, as did the entire scheme — but in Wisconsin, the legal efforts, at least, came close to success.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Troupis was the lead attorney in a lawsuit that made its way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court — and very nearly prevailed. In that case, the high court rejected Trump’s effort to disqualify ballots in two, and only two, diverse counties — Milwaukee and Dane — where the majority of the Badger State’s Black residents live. That rejection, however, was only carried by a 4-3 vote.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jill Karofsky had the following admonition for Trump’s lawyer during oral arguments in December 2020: “This lawsuit, Mr. Troupis, smacks of racism.”
A lawsuit filed by Wisconsin voters and Democrats in 2022 against Chesebro and Troupis was settled in December 2023 — with each man averring they will never again engage in the same or similar activity, but otherwise not admitting any fault, wrongdoing, or liability.
In March, 1,400 pages worth of texts and emails between Chesebro and Troupis were released from the settled lawsuit. The documents reveal efforts to keep the fake electors scheme secret and to create a “cloud of confusion” as election overthrow efforts ramped up.
Chesebro authored some so-called “coup memos” that offered legal opinions on how Trump’s team could overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in a “constitutionally defensible manner.”
Charged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over his role, Chesebro pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents, a felony, on Oct. 20, 2023. Prosecutors recommended five years probation, community service, and the payment of restitution.
Before his plea deal, the pro-Trump attorney faced time behind bars as he was charged with one count of Georgia’s homegrown RICO act, one count of conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer, two counts of conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, two counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writing, and one count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents.
Roman is also charged in the Georgia case — where he is currently part of a group of defendants attempting to have the district attorney’s office disqualified before the state’s court of appeal. Troupis, a former Dane County judge, currently serves on a Wisconsin judicial advisory panel.
Matt Naham and Brandi Buchman contributed to this report.
Developing…
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Author: Colin Kalmbacher
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