SO – – – WHAT FOOL POSES FOR SUCH AN ALLEGED DECEPTION?

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Group photo shows Michigan GOP electors on day they signed false certificate

Craig Mauger, The Detroit News on Feb 15, 2024Published in Politics

LANSING, Mich. — A photo, obtained by the Michigan Attorney General’s office and released Thursday, shows a group of 16 Republicans posing together for a picture the day they signed a certificate falsely claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.

The picture had been discussed during preliminary examinations in Ingham County District Court on Tuesday and Wednesday as a state judge weighed whether criminal charges against six of the false Trump electors should proceed to trial.

Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office released the image after an open records request by The Detroit News. The photo was taken on Dec. 14, 2020, inside the Michigan Republican Party headquarters in downtown Lansing, where the GOP electors met to sign certificates stating Trump had won the election that he actually lost.

In fact, the Board of State Canvassers had already certified Democrat Joe Biden’s 154,000-vote victory over Trump, and the Democratic electors were meeting on Dec. 14, 2020, inside the Michigan Capitol.

It’s not clear who took the image of the GOP electors.

Nessel unveiled eight felony charges, including forgery, against each of the 16 GOP electors in July. Similar false certificates were signed by Republicans in seven states as Trump and his supporters attempted to overturn his loss to Biden.

The Democratic attorney general has said the false electors’ “actions undermined the public’s faith in the integrity of our elections” and “also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan.”

However, defense lawyers for the electors have contended that their clients had no criminal intent to defraud anyone when they signed the certificates and were simply following the guidance of lawyers who were working with the Trump campaign.

Nick Somberg, the lawyer for Meshawn Maddock, one of the GOP electors, referenced the photo in court on Wednesday, suggesting it was evidence the group didn’t have a criminal intent.

“Have you ever had a group of criminals pose for a photo at the scene of the crime?” Somberg asked a witness who had experience in law enforcement.

The preliminary examinations are expected to continue in the coming weeks.

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