Attorney General Josh Kaul won't say if fake electors are under investigation after latest Trump indictment

MADISON – With Wisconsin among several states highlighted in a new indictment against former President Donald Trump, Attorney General Josh Kaul's public comments on actions his office will — or won't — take remain restrained.

Trump is accused by a federal grand jury of organizing a conspiracy to steal the 2020 election from President Joe Biden — with strategies that included organizing slates of fraudulent electors in seven states, including Wisconsin, to claim to be electors for Trump despite the outcome of the election.

"It's critical that people who committed crimes with the intent of overturning the results of an election are held accountable," Kaul told reporters in Madison on Thursday, noting that the federal indictment, handed down Tuesday, identified six alleged co-conspirators. "So I certainly expect that we will see further developments involving people identified in that document. And for other states, including Wisconsin, it's my view that those who committed crimes with the goal of overturning the results of the election should be held accountable."

The state Department of Justice "can neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation" in Wisconsin, the attorney general said when asked by reporters.

More: Here are the 10 people who participated in Wisconsin's fake elector scheme in 2020

He also declined to answer whether he believes a theory presented in the indictment that some fake electors were tricked into participating in the scheme applies to the 10 from Wisconsin.

"Certainly as additional facts are developed that would impact how cases potentially could be investigated if they are, or prosecuted if they are … that's something that we're, as I mentioned on the day the indictment came out, we’re certainly following what’s going on closely," Kaul said.

The indictment, which is Trump's third, listed four counts against the former president: Conspiracy to Defraud the United States; Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; and Conspiracy Against Rights.

Biden defeated Trump by about 21,000 votes in Wisconsin's 2020 presidential election. Trump sought and paid for recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties, which confirmed Biden's win. Trump sued and the state Supreme Court upheld the results on a 4-3 vote on Dec. 14, 2020.

Less than an hour later, Democrats met in the state Capitol to cast the state's 10 electoral votes for Biden.

At the same time, 10 Republicans gathered in another part of the Capitol to fill out paperwork claiming Trump had won. They submitted their filings to Congress, the National Archives, a federal judge and then-Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette.

At the time, the false electors said they held the meeting to ensure the state's electoral votes were cast for Trump if a court later determined he was the true winner of the state.

The plan was spelled out after the election by attorney Kenneth Chesebro in a memo dated Nov. 18, 2020 — the same day Trump asked for recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties. The indictment makes several references to the Nov. 18 “Wisconsin Memo” and a Dec. 6, 2020 “Fraudulent Elector Memo.”

“The memoranda evolved over time from a legal strategy to preserve the Defendant’s rights to a corrupt plan to subvert the federal government function by stopping Biden electors’ votes from being counted and certified,” the indictment reads.

The fake elector certificates were used by Trump and his co-conspirators to “deceitfully target the government function … contrary to how fraudulent electors were told they would be used,” it said.

Chesebro, who is listed as "Co-Conspirator 5" in the new Trump indictment, sent the memo to Jim Troupis, the attorney who oversaw Trump's post-election legal strategy in Wisconsin. Chesebro sent a second memo on the matter on Dec. 9, 2020, after state officials certified Biden as the victor in Wisconsin.

The filings from the fake electors in Wisconsin and elsewhere helped Trump and his allies argue the results were in dispute as they tried to prevent Congress from finalizing them.

Now, the false electors' actions are under high scrutiny as Trump faces criminal charges for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Last month, Michigan became the first state to charge the Trump electors. A trial in a Wisconsin lawsuit over the actions of the 10 Republicans who posed as electors for Trump takes place just weeks before the next presidential election.

Molly Beck of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kaul won't say if Wisconsin fake electors are under investigation