Giuliani and Trump's post-election legal team asked Michigan GOP prosecutor for county voting machines: report

Rudy Giuliani and a number of former President Donald Trump's legal advisors asked a Republican prosecutor in North Michigan to turn over his county's voting machines.

During a recent interview, Antrim County prosecutor James Rossiter (R) offered details about the request that Giuliani reportedly made during a phone conversation. At the time, Giuliani asked if Rossiter could turn over the voting machines to Trump's legal team.

Speaking to The Washington Post, Rossiter said that he informed Giuliani that the request was not one that could be fulfilled.“I said, ‘I can’t just say: give them here.’ We don’t have that magical power to just demand things as prosecutors. You need probable cause,” Rossiter said he told Trump’s post-election legal team.

He added, “I never expected in my life I’d get a call like this."

Rossiter, a Republican, also said that he made it clear to Giuliani that political party affiliation plays "no part" in the duties his position requires.

"It’s no secret I run on the Republican ticket," Rossiter said. "But I told them, ‘It’s not about who wins or loses. It needs to be fair.'"

The call came after discrepancies were reported with the county's first election results. Per The Post, there were reports of inaccurate results suggesting that President Joe Biden had won the county by a total of 3,000 votes in a predominately Republican county. The presumed inaccuracy led to Antrim County becoming a point of contention that fueled far-right Republicans' claims of widespread voter fraud.

However, a recount by hand actually confirmed Biden actually did win the Republican county.

Per The Post:

"After addressing the mistakes in the days that followed, officials announced that Trump had in fact beaten Biden by more than 3,000 votes, a result that was confirmed by a hand recount of the paper ballots marked by voters. The county clerk, Sheryl Guy, later said in a report that the error was an honest mistake that she 'owned, acknowledged and accepted.'”

Legal experts have also weighed in on the reports about Giuliani's call to Rossiter describing his actions as unlawful. Bruce Green, a Fordham University Law School professor, made it clear that if anyone knew the tall request was unethical and unlawful, Giuliani, a veteran attorney, was well aware.

“One might understand someone who’s not a lawyer asking, not knowing it wouldn’t be lawful. It’s another thing for a lawyer who used to be a U.S. attorney,” said Green, also the former chair of the American Bar Association’s committee for criminal justice standards. “If anyone knew the prosecutor couldn’t comply, it should be Rudy Giuliani.”