Memo Shows Wisconsin Lawyer Knew About Trump Elector Plot: Report

Milwaukee WI

03 February, 2022

4:43 PM

Description

WISCONSIN — A memorandum between two lawyers, one from Wisconsin, might be among the earliest pieces of a plan to install Republican electors in battleground states after Donald Trump lost the 2020 U.S. election. Wisconsin lawyer James Troupis received the memo from Kenneth Chesebro two weeks after the election. The memo discussed the legality of putting alternate electors in states like Wisconsin to give electoral votes to Trump, the New York Times reported. Ten electors would meet in Madison on Dec. 14, 2020, to cast their electoral votes for Trump in Wisconsin, the memo states. Joe Biden had already won the Badger State by 20,000 votes in November 2020, according to the Wisconsin Election Commission. "It may seem odd that the electors pledged to Trump and (Mike) Pence might meet and cast their votes on December 14 even if, at that juncture, the Trump-Pence ticket is behind in the vote count, and no certificate of election has been issued in favor of Trump and Pence," the memo said. "However, a fair reading of the federal statutes suggests that this is a reasonable course of action." The memo called Jan. 6, 2021, when the U.S. Senate and House would meet to count electoral votes, the hard deadline to turn votes in favor of Trump and Pence. Troupis served as a judge in the Dane County Circuit Court and was a campaign lawyer for Trump. People in more than seven states, including Wisconsin, have been accused of attempting to install fake electors. Some people listed in reports are officeholders like Kelly Ruh, an alderperson for De Pere, and Robert Spindell Jr., a member of the Wisconsin Election Commission, the Wisconsin Examiner reported. State Democrats have called for Spindell to be removed from office for being one of the so-called electors, according to a letter signed by 14 state senators and representatives. Spindell and nine others signed false ballots in the state capitol the same day real electors met to certify Biden and Kamala Harris as the next president and vice president, the letter said. The false electors, including two from Wisconsin, have been subpoenaed by the January 6th Committee to testify, the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol said in a statement. It's not clear if they will face criminal charges. Republicans have challenged the 2020 election results in other ways, with recounts in Milwaukee and Dane Counties, and an election review orchestrated by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.