Charges may follow in other states after Wisconsin indicted three Trump supporters on election fraud, an attorney has said.
Three men, two of whom are former President Donald Trump's co-accused in his Georgia indictment, were charged on Tuesday with attempts to overthrow Wisconsin's result in the 2020 presidential election.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed felony forgery charges against two of Trump's former attorneys—Kenneth Chesebro and Jim Troupis—and Mike Roman, Trump's former aide, in relation to their alleged part in creating a slate of fake electors who were willing to certify that Trump had won the Wisconsin ballot.
In August, Roman and Chesebro were indicted in Atlanta, along with Trump and 16 others, on charges of attempting to illegally overturn Georgia's 2020 presidential election result, and there have been a string of indictments in other states in recent months. Roman, Chesebro and Trump have all pleaded not guilty.
Anne Stevenson, an attorney in Massachusetts, told Newsweek that other states may now follow with further indictments.
"As Chesebro and his co-conspirators continue to await trial in Georgia, he picked up new indictments for what appears to be similar crimes in Wisconsin. There will likely be other states that follow suit," she said.
"Conservative commentators believe these cases are just political showboating that will all go away with time, but I would not be surprised if there are more convictions," Stevenson continued.
She said several Trump attorneys had now been indicted and that each should have been aware of the legal dangers.
"It's hard to believe an accomplished attorney like Chesebro misunderstood the law to the extent that he now finds himself indicted. So many red flags were there," she said.
Newsweek has contacted attorneys for Chesebro, Roman and Trump for comment via email.
Recently, there has been a flurry of activity in several states concerning the 2020 election.
On April 24, an Arizona grand jury indicted Mark Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani; Roman and 15 others on charges of trying to overthrow Arizona's 2020 presidential election result.
In December, six Trump supporters were indicted in Nevada on charges of creating a forged election certificate and offering the fake certificate as an election result. All have pleaded not guilty.
In July, Michigan's attorney general filed charges against 16 Trump supporters allegedly involved in a fake elector plot. One signed a cooperation agreement, and the other 15 have pleaded not guilty.
At a pretrial hearing in April, Howard Shock, a state investigator in Michigan, confirmed in testimony that Trump, Meadows and Giuliani were uncharged co-conspirators in the case.
Duane Silverthorn, a defense attorney, offered a series of names and asked Shock if they were "unindicted co-conspirators"—which means they were not charged but could have been part of an alleged plot to put Michigan's electoral votes in Trump's column. Shock said yes to Trump, Meadows, Giuliani and some high-ranking state Republicans.
A judge is holding hearings to determine if there is enough evidence to order a trial.
On Tuesday, the Georgia Court of Appeals announced that it would not hear arguments in the Atlanta case until October, all but guaranteeing that the former president's trial will not begin until after November's general election. The case against Roman and some of the other defendants would also be delayed.
If elected, Trump could request that the Supreme Court delay the Georgia case until after he has left office.
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About the writer
Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
