News Roundup: Michigan Fake Electors Face Criminal Charges

On Tuesday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel brought felony charges, including election law forgery, against the 16 “alternate” electors who had signed fake certificates in a bid to disrupt the congressional certification of election results on Jan. 6, 2021 — and overturn former President Trump’s loss.

The charges are the first time charges have been brought against any of the fake electors, including those from six other swing states in which Trump supporters submitted forged certificates. But Nessel’s investigation isn’t the only one focused on the issue:

• The U.S. Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation is also examining the fake-electors scheme. Special Counsel Jack Smith has reportedly given limited immunity to at least two of the fake electors in return for testimony.
• In Georgia’s Fulton County, District Attorney Fani Willis, who is investigating Trump’s election interference in that state, has agreed to immunity deals with at least eight fake electors.
• Kris Mayes, Arizona’s attorney general, has also escalated her investigation into the plot to overturn the state’s election results. 

American Oversight first obtained copies of the forged certificates in the spring of 2021, and continued to uncover evidence of how several fake electors have continued to be involved in efforts to undermine trust in U.S. democracy, including by playing key roles in sham election investigations.

• More recently, we obtained emails from early 2021 in which the National Archives and Records Administration told state officials that they had received the fake certificates. The emails provide a window into how state leaders, including in Michigan, were notified about the scheme. 
• “For your awareness, we received today unofficial certificates from the Republican electors who were not appointed by the Governor,” a NARA official wrote to the Michigan governor’s chief counsel and the director of the state’s elections bureau on Jan. 8, 2021. Read more here.

On Tuesday, Trump said that he’d received a letter from the Justice Department telling him he is a target of the special counsel investigation. “The target letter and potential indictment further ensnare Trump in unprecedented legal peril,” wrote the Washington Post. Here are recent headlines related to investigations into efforts to overturn the 2020 election:

• Potential Trump charges include civil rights law used in voting fraud cases (New York Times)
• Georgia Supreme Court rejects Trump effort to quash investigation (New York Times)
• Legal bills mount for Georgia Republican Party in Trump investigation (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Former Arizona governor contacted by special counsel in Jan. 6 probe (CNN)
• Wisconsin’s top elections official interviewed as part of federal Jan. 6 investigation (Wisconsin Public Radio)
• Special counsel subpoenas security footage from Atlanta stadium that served as polling place in 2020 election (CNN)

On the Records

Cleta Mitchell’s Emails with Trump Administration’s Ken Cuccinelli
We obtained emails from July 2019 in which conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell — whose election-denial and voter-suppression efforts have recently drawn scrutiny — gave legal advice about financial disclosures to Trump administration DHS appointee Ken Cuccinelli. 

• In an email conversation with an ethics official at USCIS, Cuccinelli said he wanted Mitchell to look over his financial disclosure before submitting. After receiving a deadline extension, Cuccinelli forwarded the exchange to Mitchell. 
• Mitchell resigned from the firm Foley & Lardner following news of her participation in Trump’s January 2021 call pressuring Georgia election officials to overturn his loss in the state. 
• This April, she urged Republican donors to work together to limit access to voting by mail and on college campuses. We released a statement on Mitchell’s anti-voting agenda, and recently published records showing her using her position on the Elections Assistance Commission board of advisers to disparage absentee voting. 

Ongoing Investigations into Justice Clarence Thomas’s Political Ties
Virginia Solicitor General Andrew Ferguson previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. In May, we filed a public records request with the Virginia attorney general’s office for Ferguson’s communications with Thomas and his wife, Ginni Thomas. 

• The office told us it is withholding one record responsive to our request under an exemption for correspondence of the attorney general: “The subject matter of the withheld record is a correspondence from a constituent requesting a phone call with the governor.”
• We requested these records as part of our ongoing investigation into Clarence and Ginni Thomas’ political connections and potential related ethics concerns. Learn more about our ongoing investigation here.

Other Stories We’re Following

Voting Rights and Threats to Democracy

• As push for hand-counting ballots continues in Arizona, Republican senators emphasize legality, not practicality (Votebeat)
• Harris County voters could see more problems in 2024 if its elections office is abolished (Votebeat)
• Alabama Republicans reject call for 2nd majority Black district, despite Supreme Court ruling (Associated Press) 
• Georgia plans to cancel registrations of 191,000 inactive voters (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
• DeSantis, others sued over alleged ‘election police’ voter intimidation (Washington Post) 
• Galveston County’s redistricting plans go to trial next month, in a major test of the Voting Rights Act (Houston Public Media)
• Texas Republican leaders want to improve elections in the state’s largest county. Their solution could backfire. (Texas Tribune)
• Illegal voting maps were used in some states in 2022. This legal idea allowed them. (NPR)
• Texas resigns from ERIC, a national program that keeps voter rolls updated (Votebeat)

In the States

• 6 large donors fuel Ken Paxton’s post-impeachment campaign fundraising (Texas Tribune)
• State guard set up by DeSantis is being trained as personal militia, veterans say (Guardian)

National News

• How Harlan Crow slashed his tax bill by taking Clarence Thomas on superyacht cruises (ProPublica) 
• Influential activist Leonard Leo helped fund media campaign lionizing Clarence Thomas (Washington Post)
• The campaign against affirmative action shifts to corporate America (Washington Post)
• Judge sets Trump classified-documents trial for next May (Politico)
• Donald Trump loses bid for new trial in E. Jean Carroll abuse case (Reuters)

LGBTQ Rights

• Virginia releases updated transgender student model policies (Washington Post)
• In a political era of “parental rights,” Texans raising trans kids say new law strips them of choice (Texas Tribune)
• Ohio House Republicans introduce law to ban drag shows outside of adult entertainment venues (Ohio Capital Journal)
• Louisiana bans gender-affirming care for trans youth despite governor’s veto (Axios)
• A decade of hate: How South Dakota’s gender-affirming care ban affects these trans youth (Argus Leader)
• Judge allows trans girls to compete on girls’ school sports teams during Arizona lawsuit (Arizona Republic)
• Florida targets pronouns, bathrooms in new statewide school rules (Politico)

Abortion and Reproductive Rights

• Mississippi attorney general wants info on out-of-state abortions, gender affirming care (Mississippi Free Press)
• Since ‘Dobbs’ ruling, Native people face a web of obstacles to reproductive care (Truthout)
• Injunction blocks enforcement of new abortion restrictions in Iowa (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
• Crisis pregnancy center failed to spot an ectopic pregnancy, threatening patient’s life, lawsuit alleges (NBC News) 
• Tearfully testifying against Texas’ abortion ban, three women describe medical care delayed (Texas Tribune)
• Blue-state doctors launch abortion pill pipeline into states with bans (Washington Post)
• Judge takes under advisement a request to block enforcement of new Nebraska abortion ban (Nebraska Examiner)
• Tennessee AG asserts right to out-of-state abortion, transgender care medical records (Tennessee Lookout)
• Missouri Supreme Court allows abortion ballot initiative to move ahead (New York Times)

Threats to Education

• Florida schools struggle to apply new book law in which even Shakespeare is ‘suspect’ (Tallahassee Democrat)
• Teachers strong-armed to get on board with Houston schools takeover (Texas Observer) 
• Arizona lawmakers form committee to investigate free speech at public universities (Arizona Republic) 
• ​Red-state education restrictions leave textbook publishers in a bind ​(Washington Post)
• At New College of Florida, a ‘ridiculously high’ number of faculty are gone (Tampa Bay Times) 
• Conservatives are changing K-12 education, and one Christian college is at the center (NBC News)

Government Transparency and Public Records Law

• New Missouri laws could limit access to police records, public college investments (Kansas City Star)
• Judge’s ruling keeps some Senate ‘audit’ texts, emails secret but could release others (AZ Central)
• Minnesota agency’s plan to delete emails after a year stirs criticism from open records advocates (Associated Press)

Immigration

• Texas troopers told to push children into Rio Grande, deny water to migrants, records say (Houston Chronicle) 
• Mexico files diplomatic complaint over Gov. Greg Abbott’s floating border barriers (Texas Tribune)
• Fourth bus carrying migrants from Texas arrives in Los Angeles (CNN) 
• Groups sue Florida over latest immigration law (Politico)
• Border Patrol fails to assess medical needs for children with preexisting conditions, report says (Associated Press)
• Court monitor: 8-year-old’s death in Border Patrol custody caused by ‘series of failures’ (Los Angeles Times)
• Democrats press Homeland Security on domestic extremism in workforce (Washington Post)