Three years after the storming of the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 6 still reverberates in Wisconsin

MADISON – Three years after supporters of Donald Trump violently stormed the U.S. Capitol, Wisconsin investigators are now probing the scheme aimed at keeping the former president in power after losing reelection.

The stateside effort to untangle a plot to persuade then-Vice President Mike Pence to accept slates of false electors for Trump and overturn President Joe Biden’s legitimate election victory has not yet resulted in charges. But the probe has continued to keep a spotlight on Trump’s plan to reject voters’ decision in 2020 as he ramps up another campaign in the battleground state.

Trump’s plan to stay in power drew in some of Wisconsin's top Republicans, including an elections commissioner and former chairman of the state GOP who signed paperwork falsely claiming to be electors for Trump. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, who attempted to coordinate the handoff of those documents to Pence, also came under fire for his involvement and faced recent criticism from Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, who said he should be punished.

Wisconsin’s connections to Trump’s scheme are sure to remain pertinent as the former president is poised to accept the Republican presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this summer despite facing 91 felony charges, including for his effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Biden’s reelection campaign is also making the Jan. 6, 2021, riot a focal point, arguing the 2024 election is a fight for the future of democracy in the U.S.

Here is what we’ve learned over the past year about Wisconsin’s role in the effort to overturn the 2020 election:

Fake elector investigation

While Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has not publicly confirmed the existence of an investigation, Wisconsin investigators appear to be probing the plot to substitute Biden’s electoral votes in the state for a false slate of Trump electors.

Kenneth Chesebro, a Wisconsin native and attorney who orchestrated the fake elector plot in key swing states won by Biden, is reportedly cooperating with investigators in the state.

Chesebro designed the fake elector scheme with former Dane County Circuit Court Judge Jim Troupis. He detailed the scheme in a Nov. 18, 2020, memo and attempted to implement the plan in other swing states won by Biden.

Chesebro in October pleaded guilty in Georgia to a charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents in connection to the effort, and he is reportedly cooperating with investigators in at least four states.

Last month, the 10 false Trump electors from Wisconsin settled a lawsuit lodged by Biden’s electors that sought $2.4 million in damages for their involvement in the scheme. The group as part of the settlement acknowledged their actions were part of an attempt to overturn an election and agreed not to serve as electors in the future or participate in the transmission of such false documents again. They were not made to pay any damages.

The 10 fake electors have maintained that they signed the false documents to ensure the state's electoral votes were cast for Trump if a court later determined he was the true winner of the state, though recounts and court rulings reaffirmed Biden’s more than 20,000-vote victory.

They said they took those actions at the request of the Trump campaign. Andrew Hitt, who was chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin at the time and signed elector paperwork, said last month the group was “tricked and misled into participating in what became the alternate elector scheme and would have never taken any actions had we known that there were ulterior reasons beyond preserving an ongoing legal strategy.”

The lawsuit also named Chesebro and Troupis as defendants, and the pair are still scheduled to stand trial in September.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission following the settlement dismissed a complaint against the 10 Republican electors. But commissioner Rob Spindell, who posed as one of the electors, has faced continued calls from Democrats to resign from the state’s top election board.

Ron Johnson continues to face and dismiss heat

Johnson, Wisconsin’s senior U.S. senator, has repeatedly dismissed criticism for his part in attempting to pass Pence fake elector slates from Wisconsin and Michigan moments before Congress convened to certify Biden’s election victory on Jan. 6.

He has argued that his involvement, which included text messages with Troupis, lasted just “a few seconds.”

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers this week told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he thinks Johnson should “pay the price” for his role in the scheme but did not say what punishment Johnson should face.

"He was part of the deal. Something should happen to him," Evers said of Johnson. "He knew. He knew. Why in the world would a U.S. Senator involve himself with something that is patently against the law?"

Fitzgerald, Tiffany defend votes against certification

Wisconsin Republican Reps. Scott Fitzgerald and Tom Tiffany told the Journal Sentinel last month that they stood by their objections in the hours after the insurrection to certifying Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Both men pointed to changes made to Wisconsin’s election administration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as reasons they were skeptical of the 2020 election results. But Fitzgerald went further, claiming he thinks it is “ridiculous” he was asked to vote on the validity of electors from other states.

"The idea that three days after I was sworn into Congress I was asking (sic) to vote to certify Arizona’s election is just ridiculous," Fitzgerald told the Journal Sentinel. "I don’t know anything about Arizona’s election law. I don’t follow it.”

Wisconsin Republicans continue to defend Trump

Though some Wisconsin Republicans blamed Trump for a lackluster 2022 midterm performance, top GOP officials in the state have not moved on from the former president.

Wisconsin's lawmakers on Capitol Hill have defended Trump in the face of four criminal cases and have labeled the various charges against him as politically motivated.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who faced consistent criticism and primary opposition from Trump for his refusal to support the effort to throw out Wisconsin's election results, said in 2022 he would try "as hard as I can to make sure Donald Trump is not the nominee." But Vos in an interview with the Journal Sentinel last month would not rule out supporting Trump in the 2024 general election.

Support for Trump remains solid among grassroots voters in Wisconsin as well.

At the Republican state convention in June, Trump delivered recorded remarks in which he falsely claimed he won the state in 2020. His lie was met with loud cheers.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Jan. 6 still reverberates in Wisconsin 3 years after the Capitol riot