Lawsuit over Wisconsin's fake Trump electors will proceed to trial

MADISON - A Wisconsin lawsuit over the actions of 10 Republicans who posed as electors for Donald Trump in 2020 despite the former president's election loss will proceed to trial.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Frank Remington on Thursday rejected the Republican defendants' motion to dismiss the case. Among other legal defenses, they'd argued their actions did not amount to participating in a conspiracy to defraud Wisconsin voters.

A jury trial is scheduled for September 2024 − two months before voters will decide the next presidential contest that is on pace to include Trump once again.

Remington's order to deny motions to toss the case comes after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said the group of 10 Republicans who signed paperwork claiming to be electors should face legal consequences.

The lawsuit, filed by Democratic electors for Joe Biden, seeks $2.4 million in damages and to bar the group of Republicans from serving as presidential electors in the future.

10 Republicans produced paperwork saying Trump had won in Wisconsin

Biden beat Trump by about 21,000 votes in Wisconsin. Trump sought 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, the fake electors 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 fake 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 by attorney Kenneth Chesebro in a memo dated Nov. 18, 2020 — the same day Trump asked for recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties. Chesebro is also named as a defendant in the Wisconsin case.

Chesebro sent the memo to Jim Troupis, the attorney who oversaw Trump's post-election legal strategy in Wisconsin and is also a defendant. It's unclear whether Chesebro worked for Trump or someone else. Chesebro sent a second memo on the matter on Dec. 9, 2020, after state officials certified Biden as the victor in Wisconsin.

Judge compares Wisconsin Trump elector arguments to getaway drivers in robbery

In Wisconsin, the group of 10 Republicans who signed the paperwork included then-Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman Andrew Hitt and Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Bob Spindell.

"Hitt says he only ever acted 'as the Republican Party presidential electors ….' ... According to the complaint, Hitt was a losing candidate in that election," Remington wrote in a footnote in the order. "Candidates who lose elections generally do not refer to themselves by reference to the office they do not hold — Hitt is no more a 'Republican Party presidential elector' than Mandela Barnes is Wisconsin’s Democratic Party senator.”

"Of course, if Hitt wanted to label himself 'Republican Party presidential elector,' he couldhave done this as long as he committed no crimes under the auspices of his self-given title. But Hitt did not do this," Remington wrote. "The complaint alleges he signed and transmitted to the United States Senate a certificate identifying himself as one of Wisconsin’s 'duly elected and qualified Electors.'"

Remington also compared the actions of the Republicans to being "the driver who conspires with gunmen for the wrongful purpose of a robbery."

An attorney representing Hitt and the other Republican defendants did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Remington's order.

Mark Jefferson, Republican Party of Wisconsin executive director, said "all action taken to produce an alternate slate was only done to preserve an ongoing legal strategy and only to be used in the event a court of law gave the alternate slate meaning."

"We were not informed of any use of the alternate electors contrary to preserving the legal strategy and would not have approved any other use," he said.

Scott Thompson, an attorney with the liberal-leaning legal firm Law Forward, which is representing the plaintiffs, said Remington's order "will provide our clients with the opportunity to fully investigate and present their case in court."

"Wisconsin voters have been waiting for nearly three years to hold the fraudulent electors accountable for their misconduct. Their coordinated and deliberate effort to subvert our democracy must not happen again," Thompson said.

Trump, other states' fake electors facing charges

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.

Republicans in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada also signed documents purporting to be electors. Republicans in New Mexico and Pennsylvania filled out paperwork saying they should be considered electors if courts found Trump had won their states.

Michigan’s attorney general filed felony charges in July against 16 Republicans who acted as fake electors for Trump, accusing them of submitting false certificates that confirmed they were legitimate electors despite Joe Biden’s victory in the state.

Trump was recently indicted over his actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection − charges that focus heavily on the fake elector strategy.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin fake Trump electors lawsuit will proceed to trial