Michigan's AG, State Police Investigating Conspiracists Peddling Election Lies For Profit
Michigan’s attorney general and the state police are launching investigations into individuals suspected of pushing presidential election lies to make money.
Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office announced that she has agreed to do so at the request of state lawmakers concerned about fundraising scams linked to lies that the election was rigged, reported The Detroit Free Press.
Nessel “has accepted” the invitation to investigate, her spokesperson Lynsey Mukomel told local news outlets on Thursday. Michigan State Police are “also assisting in the matter,” Mukomel added.
A 55-page report by the GOP-led state Senate Oversight Committee — adopted earlier this week by all the Republican lawmakers on the committee — found no evidence of widespread election fraud. The report urged the AG to probe those “utilizing misleading and false information” about the election to “raise money or publicity for their own ends.”
State residents should be confident that Michigan’s election tally represents the “true results,” the report declared. Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by about 155,000 votes, or 2.8%, in the battleground state.
“The committee strongly recommends citizens use a critical eye and ear toward those who have pushed demonstrably false theories for their own personal gain,” the panel wrote.
The report didn’t specify who should be targeted in an investigation. But it did refer to conspiracy peddler My Pillow Guy CEO and Trump ally Mike Lindell and his “ignorant” video pointing to baseless claims of rigged votes in Michigan.
It also slammed an election fraud lawsuit against a Michigan county that was cited by many to advance baseless election conspiracies. The suit was dismissed. The website for the attorney who filed the suit includes an appeal for donations for the “Election Fraud Defense Fund.”
The lawsuit was filed after conspiracy theorists falsely claimed with no evidence that a voting tally mistake caused by human error in Antrim County was due to voting machines rigged to switch votes.
Trump has raised millions of dollars in donations to fight election results, which he has repeatedly falsely claimed were rigged.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
