Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel could soon be in legal hot water, experts predicted Friday after a report revealed she had participated in a November 2020 call where former President Donald Trump pressured two Michigan officials to not certify the 2020 election. The Detroit News first reported the recorded phone call, made Nov. 17, 2020, where Trump told Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, that signing the document after first voting against doing so and then later voting to approve certification in the same meeting would make them look "terrible."
McDaniel, a Michigan native, at one point during the call told the officials, "If you can go home tonight, do not sign it... we will get you attorneys," with Trump adding that they will "take care of that." McDaniel's proposition raised a flag for legal experts online as it could be seen as bribing a public officer because "a promise was offered in exchange for an official act," Georgia State law professor Anthony Michael Kreis wrote on X, formerly Twitter, citing section 750.117 of Act 328 of Michigan's penal code, which governs such a violation. "It seems like Ronna McDaniel could be in some trouble in Michigan and Donald Trump may be facing a fifth set of charges. A promise was offered in exchange for an official act unlike in Georgia where the preferred method appears to have been limited to browbeating state officials," he wrote.
