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 charges against 16 people for serving as so-called fake electors following the 2020 presidential election.

The electors signed documents falsely attesting that Donald Trump won the state in the election. Trump lost Michigan to Joe Biden. 

The broader fake elector scheme is part of special counsel Jack Smith's ongoing federal investigation into Trump and the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Those charged in Michigan include Meshawn Maddock, a former co-chair of the state Republican Party. Each defendant faces a slew of felony charges including election law forgery. 

"The false electors' actions undermined the public's faith in the integrity of our elections and, we believe, also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan," Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, said in a statement Tuesday.

The charges in Michigan came hours after Trump 

revealed that he received word that he's a target

 of a federal grand jury probe investigating his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump has called the federal investigation into his actions a "witch hunt."


Michigan was one of several states that saw pro-Trump fake electors submit letters to the federal government. Some fake electors have defended their actions by saying they were merely doing so in case Trump's challenges of the election were successful.


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The so-called fake electors signed documents falsely attesting that Donald Trump won the state in the 2020 election.

Michigan's attorney general charges 16 people in fake elector scheme

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