'Fake electors' accused in 2020 pro-Trump scheme plan lawsuit

Six of the 15 GOP electors whose charges were later dropped and have received a pardon from President Trump: (clockwise) Kent Vanderwood, Meshawn Maddock, Marian Sheridan, Kathy Berden, Stanley Grot and Clifford Frost

Michigan’s slate of Republican “alternate electors” for Donald Trump in 2020, who were accused of fraud and attempting to assist the Trump campaign in overturning the year’s election results, announced their intent to sue Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Department of Attorney General for the felony charges that were sought against them.

The group alleges, according to a press release from the Michigan Conservative Coalition announcing the lawsuits, that “Nessel’s felony complaints filed against each Elector were malicious, and were filed with malicious intent.”

The announcement came days after Nessel’s office announced that her office will not appeal the September 2025 decision by Lansing 54-A District Court Judge Kristen Simmons to dismiss charges against the electors.

“Dana Nessel, who is perhaps the worst lawyer in the USA, was smart when she decided to not lose — twice — the same case,” former Michigan Republican Party co-chair Meshawn Maddock, one of the electors in question, said in the press release. “Dana and her far left persecutors need to learn, perhaps the hard way, that her out of control legal behavior is unacceptable. I am also hopeful that our attorneys will be successful in having her, personally, pay the millions of dollars in damages that her horrible and malicious actions caused.”

In Nessel’s announcement that she would not appeal the district court decision, she said that the decision not to appeal “does not reflect any change in my belief in each defendant’s culpability for their alleged crimes, nor do I feel it any less urgent that those who work to undermine our elections should face accountability.”

Erick Kaardal, a lawyer at Minneapolis-based law firm Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson, said in the press release that the lawsuits will be “vigorously pursued,” adding that “Government officials who weaponize their offices against citizens for political purposes must be held accountable under the law.”

When asked for comment on the lawsuit, Kimberly Bush, spokesperson for the Department of Attorney General, told Michigan Advance that in her decision not to appeal the case, Nessel included an “exhaustive” 110 page report that included both the allegations and supporting evidence against each of defendants, as well as the relevant case law.

“These cases will not be successful, but it’s possible the proceedings will shed further light on the criminal conduct of the Plaintiffs,” Bush said.

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