LANSING, Mich. — An attorney updated Donald Trump's advisers on plans to submit a false certificate claiming the then-president won Michigan's election and sent documents to help with the effort to a state GOP official, according to emails obtained by The Detroit News.
The Dec. 11, 2020, messages from Massachusetts lawyer Kenneth Chesebro to Bernard Kerik, whom Trump's lawyers tapped to probe voter fraud claims, are the clearest indication yet that Trump supporters working to contest the results nationally were directly involved in Michigan's "alternate" electors certificate.
They also show that officials tied to Trump were aware of the plans for Michigan, and two Republican sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the electors idea was being pushed by the Trump campaign. The president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was copied on Chesebro's emails. In one email, Chesebro thanked Kerik for participating in a phone call.
Giuliani didn't respond to a request for comment.
In January, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel referred an investigation into the 16 Republican electors to federal prosecutors. She has suggested the GOP electors broke state laws against forgery by submitting a false document.
At 12:58 p.m. on Dec. 11, 2020, Chesebro emailed Kerik, saying he had sent Marian Sheridan, one of the "alternate" electors and the Michigan Republican Party's grassroots vice chair, "a draft packet of materials to use for the voting."
The message's subject line was "Nov. 18 & Dec. 9 memos explaining reason for Dec. 14 casting of electoral votes and logistics." Less than two hours later, Chesebro sent another message that included a "7-document package for Michigan," including a "checklist for voting." The email said he would leave it to Kerik and two Trump campaign officials to determine "who should receive these materials."
"But note that Vice Chair Marian Sheridan ... was quite proactive in reaching out to me yesterday, and I sent her the draft materials I'd prepared," Chesebro wrote, including Sheridan's cellphone number and email address.
Chesebro didn't respond to a request for comment.
Sheridan of West Bloomfield Township has been heavily involved in efforts to advance unsubstantiated claims about the 2020 election. She was a plaintiff in attorney Sidney Powell's unsuccessful lawsuit to overturn the state's election. She is listed as one of the directors of the Michigan Conservative Coalition, an organization that touted the false electors certificate and encouraged protests against the handling of absentee ballots in Detroit, a Democratic stronghold, after Election Day.
Last week, Sheridan declined to answer questions about the certificate and the demonstrations outside the former TCF Center, where Detroit's absentee ballots were counted. Asked if anyone had encouraged the Michigan Conservative Coalition to send its supporters to TCF Center, Sheridan mockingly replied in a text message, "I think I heard it was Mark Brewer," referring to the former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party.
Kerik's attorney, Timothy Parlatore, said the former New York City police commissioner and Trump ally didn't remember a phone call with Chesebro.
As for the emails, Parlatore said, "Mr. Kerik was probably the recipient of such an email given that he was the lead investigator for the president's legal team, however he doesn't know Mr. Chesebro and doesn't believe he had ever had contact with him."
Sheridan and 15 other Trump electors met at Michigan GOP headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, the same day Michigan's actual electors were convening inside the state Capitol to officially cast their votes for Democrat Joe Biden.
The Trump supporters, including Michigan GOP co-Chairwoman Meshawn Maddock and Republican National Committeewoman Kathy Berden, signed a certificate falsely claiming they were the state's "duly elected and qualified electors."
They submitted their certificate to the U.S. Senate and the National Archives as part of an attempt in seven states to impede Biden's victory before the country's electoral votes were counted and certified during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Chesebro drafted a memo on Dec. 9, 2020, on "statutory requirements" for the electors' votes in six battleground states that Biden won, according to The New York Times.
"It is important that the Trump-(Mike) Pence Campaign focus carefully on these details, as soon as possible, if the aim is to ensure that all 79 electoral votes are properly cast and transmitted — each electoral vote being potentially important if the election ultimately extends to, and perhaps past, January 6 in Congress," Chesebro wrote in his memo.
Chesebro's memo was addressed to James Troupis, an attorney for the Trump campaign in Wisconsin. On Dec. 11, 2020, Chesebro sent a "draft press release adapted from what Jim Troupis wrote up" to Kerik, according to the emails obtained by the Detroit News. But the newspaper wasn't able to view the attachment.
A portion of Chesebro's Dec. 9, 2020, memo on Michigan noted that state law required the presidential electors to meet in the state Senate chamber.
"However, there is no requirement that they convene on the senate floor where, presumably, the Biden-(Kamala) Harris electors will convene," Chesebro wrote. "Presumably they could convene in the senate gallery."
In January, the Detroit News reported the Trump electors were looking for ways to get inside the building, which was closed to the public, on Dec. 14, 2020. Multiple sources said a group of them contemplated working with a Republican lawmaker who had a Capitol office to get the electors inside or finding a way inside before the building was sealed off.
They were ultimately unsuccessful. Instead, some of the electors, including Sheridan and Maddock, walked to the Capitol and were turned away by the Michigan State Police.
The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has been examining the actions of the "alternate" electors in Michigan and six other states.
On Jan. 28, the panel announced subpoenas of two Michigan GOP electors, Berden and Mayra Rodriguez, and 12 Republican electors in other states. The panel was investigating who was behind the "scheme" to have Republicans submit "alternate" slates of presidential electors to challenge or block Biden's victory, said Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi.
"The select committee is seeking information about attempts in multiple states to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including the planning and coordination of efforts to send false slates of electors to the National Archives," Thompson said.
Berden was the chairwoman for the Michigan GOP slate. Rodriguez was the secretary. Asked in January why the group submitted the certificate, Berden told the Detroit News, "I can't comment on anything like that. That was a long time ago."
Nessel, a Democrat and Michigan's top law enforcement official, has contended there is "absolutely" enough evidence to bring criminal charges against the 16 Republicans who signed the certificate claiming to be the state's presidential electors.
After referring the matter to federal prosecutors, Nessel said they will be better able to examine if there was a multistate conspiracy. The federal government's deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco, told CNN in January that prosecutors were reviewing the GOP certificates.
It's not necessarily a crime to encourage someone to commit a criminal act, said Steven Liedel, an attorney with the law firm Dykema whose areas of focus include elections. However, Liedel said two or more people acting in a coordinated manner to commit a crime could bring some type of conspiracy charge. He gave the example of people working together to rob a bank.
"The person who outfitted and provided the getaway car is generally going to be charged," said Liedel, who served as general counsel to Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's transition team.
Michigan Republicans have previously accused Nessel of playing politics in targeting the GOP electors.
Biden won Michigan's 2020 presidential election over Trump by 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points. The outcome was certified by the Board of State Canvassers on Nov. 23, 2020, meaning Michigan's 16 electoral votes were required to go to Biden under state law.
More than 200 audits, a series of court rulings and an investigation by the Republican-controlled state Senate Oversight Committee have upheld Biden's Michigan victory.
