A Michigan Republican whose wife is being prosecuted for allegedly taking part in the Trump campaign’s scheme to send false electors to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory said state charges could trigger a “civil war.”
“If the government continues to weaponise these departments against conservatives and the citizens that are then the taxpayers, you know what’s going to happen to this country,” Michigan representative Matt Maddock told the crowd at a pool party fundraiser this month for the 16 Michigan false electors facing charges, according to audio obtained by The Messenger. “Someone’s going to get so pissed off, they’re going to shoot someone. That’s what’s going to happen. Or we’re going have a civil war or some sort of revolution. That’s where this is, where this is going.”
In July, Attorney General Nessel charged 16 Trump-backing electors for their participation in a scheme to allegedly manipulate the counting process for the 2020 presidential election results from each state. Among those named as defendants was Meshawn Maddock, the state representative’s wife, who was former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party. All those cited in the indictment have pleaded not guilty.
Matt Maddock at a 2022 Trump rally— (Getty Images)
The civil war comments took place at a PAC fundraiser called the Free The 16 Electors Poolside Party at Mr Maddock’s home, with the event promising to “support the legal defence funds for the 16 Michigan Electors fighting the politicised attacks from the Evil [Michigan Attorney General] Dana Nessel!”
“In the privacy of my own home, I exercised my right to free speech when I expressed concern about how people’s frustration over an overreaching government worries me,” Mr Maddock told The Messenger in a statement.
Mr Maddock has frequently expressed his anger at the charges, comparing them to Nazism.
“They’re trying to take away our right to appeal an election or just to question the election,” he has said. “They want to make damn sure that anyone who questions the election or disputes the election in 2024 is threatened by what they’re doing to our electors and other people throughout this nation. That you will not say anything. You are going to shut the F up and you were going to walk into that gas chamber. That’s what they want because that’s what’s coming for us.”
The Michigan prosecution was just the beginning of investigations and charges across the country related to the false electors scheme.
On the federal level, the indictment against Donald Trump for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election has revealed that prosecutors have an internal memo from the Trump campaign, where leaders discussed what they called a “bold, controversial strategy” to send slates of Trump-backing electors from the states to attempt to cast votes in the Electoral College on his behalf, even in states where the Biden campaign won.
