Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul charges Kenneth Chesebro, other Trump aides, in fake elector scheme

MADISON - Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has filed felony forgery charges against an aide and two attorneys who worked for former President Donald Trump in 2020 for their part in designing and executing a plan to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election by submitting false slates of electors for Trump.

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

The charges are the first to be filed by state prosecutors against anyone involved in the scheme that involved 10 Wisconsin Republicans meeting in the state Capitol in December 2020 to sign paperwork falsely claiming to be electors for Trump, despite Trump's loss to Biden.

Kaul filed the charges in Dane County Circuit Court against Kenneth Chesebro, a Wisconsin native and lead architect of the 2020 fake elector plan; former Dane County Judge Jim Troupis, who represented Trump in Wisconsin during the 2020 election; and Mike Roman, a former Trump aide who allegedly delivered Wisconsin's slate of false elector paperwork to a Pennsylvania congressman's staffer in order to get them to Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021.

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. Chesebro was in the room during the meeting.

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 Chesebro in a memo dated Nov. 18, 2020 — the same day Trump asked for recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties.

Chesebro sent the memo to 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.

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.

In December, the group of false electors settled a civil lawsuit filed by the real Biden electors against them over their role in the scheme. As part of the settlement, the false Trump electors acknowledged their actions were part of an attempt to overturn an election.

According to communication released by Chesebro and Troupis as part of the lawsuit, Roman was in contact with Troupis on Jan. 6, 2021 and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson's chief of staff in order to pass along the slates of Wisconsin's false electors to Pence, who ultimately rejected the offer.

Court records show Chesebro, Troupis and Roman are due in court on Sept. 19.

In a one word statement on the charges, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said: "Good."

More: Court records from Trump attorneys Troupis and Chesebro reveal depth of fake elector scheme

This story will be updated.

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

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin charges Chesebro, former Trump aides in fake elector scheme