MADISON, Wis. (CN) — Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul on Tuesday filed criminal charges against two lawyers and an aide to former President Donald Trump who participated in a plan to submit a false slate of electors claiming Trump won the swing state in 2020.
According to identical criminal complaints, Kenneth Cheseboro, 62; Michael Roman, 51; and James Troupis, 70, have been charged in Dane County Circuit Court with felony forgery. Under state law, the crime carries maximum penalties of up to 6 years imprisonment, a $10,000 fine, or both.
Assistant Attorney General Jacob Corr says in the charging documents that the defendants conspired with others "for the purpose of committing the crime of uttering as genuine a forged writing or object," referring to the false slate of electors. They did so "knowing it to have been thus falsely made or altered" with others in the conspiracy, according to the complaints.
Cheseboro and Troupis are lawyers who worked on behalf of Trump and members of the state and national GOP to arrange for Wisconsin’s 10 electors to submit false paperwork declaring Trump the winner of the 2020 general election in the Badger State — a contest President Joe Biden won by around 20,000 votes. Roman was an aide to Trump during his presidency.
None of the three defendants were actually among Wisconsin's 10 GOP electors in 2020. A civil lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court against the 10 electors ended in a settlement earlier this year.
All three defendants will make their initial appearances in court in Madison on the morning of Sept. 19, according to court records.
Kaul, a Democrat, has faced persistent calls to prosecute Wisconsin’s fake electors, but in the past had said he was waiting on a federal investigation to play out before considering state-level charges.
At a press conference in Madison on Tuesday announcing the criminal charges, Kaul spoke in a measured tone about the indictments and said investigators were simply "following the facts where they lead" and making charging decisions based on "the facts, the law and the best interest of justice."
The state's top cop repeatedly answered reporters' questions by saying the investigation was ongoing and referring them to the criminal complaints. All three defendants are presumed innocent of the charges against them, he said.
Republicans alleged to have engaged in the nationwide conspiracy to falsely declare Trump the winner of the 2020 election have faced criminal charges in Michigan and Nevada in recent months. Kaul said on Tuesday that other states' investigations did not factor into Wisconsin's prosecution decisions.
In a press release on Tuesday, Governor Tony Evers, also a Democrat, responded to the announcement of the indictments with one word: “Good.”
According to the indictments, the three defendants on November 17, 2020, began coordinating to have Wisconsin GOP electors cast an electoral slate for Trump and then-Vice President Mike Pence at a meeting in Madison on Dec. 14 of that year while Trump's legal challenges to his losses played out, including in Wisconsin.
The defendants' alleged conspiracy began two weeks after Biden had been declared the winner in Wisconsin and Trump had demanded a recount that ultimately affirmed the former's victory.
In the complaints, Corr lists quotes from the defendants about the "end game" of getting their "alternate" slate of electors into Pence's hands on or before a joint session of Congress to certify the election results on Jan. 6, 2021 — a proceeding that was delayed but not halted by a violent riot of Trump supporters following a speech and rally organized by the former president in Washington.
The 10 "unappointed electors," as they are referred to in the complaint, met and cast their votes for the Trump-Pence ticket at their Dec. 14 meeting, which occurred at the same time the appointed electors cast their votes for the ticket of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Prosecutors say that, around that time, Cheseboro sent a text message to Troupis and Roman saying that "WI meeting of the *real* electors is a go!!!"
While Cheseboro and Troupis are largely alleged to have strategized the legal and procedural details of the conspiracy to submit false elector slates, Roman is mostly accused of having been a main point of contact within the White House to arrange for the false paperwork to get to Congress by Jan. 6.
According to the charging documents, Troupis, Cheseboro and Roman exchanged messages about the false electors plot all the way up to the day of the joint session of Congress and the capitol riot.
"Enjoy the history you have made possible today," Troupis messaged to Cheseboro on Jan. 6, according to the indictments.
Follow @cnsjkelly
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
