Ex-federal prosecutor: RNC chair 'may have run afoul of Michigan criminal bribery law' in Trump call
Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Ronna McDaniel may end up being indicted on charges in Michigan, according to a former federal prosecutor.
In a Friday article for the Daily Beast, Wu said McDaniel should have reason to worry about possibly being charged under the Mitten State's bribery statute following recently unearthed audio. Michigan penal code 750.117 states that anyone who "corruptly" offers a public official "any gift, gratuity, money, property or any other valuable thing" with intent "to influence the act, vote, opinion, decision or judgment" is guilty of a felony. Wu wrote that Michigan Attorney Dana Nessel — who has already indicted numerous "fake electors" who allegedly conspired to overturn the state's 2020 election results — could interpret McDaniel's offer of legal representation to two Wayne County election officials in exchange for their refusal to certify the election as a bribe.
"For McDaniel, it is legally significant that she is the one who brought up the idea of paying for lawyers," Wu wrote. "Her offer may have run afoul of the Michigan criminal bribery law, for as Professor Anthony Michael Kreis put it: 'A promise was offered in exchange for an official act.'"
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"Kreis also makes the point that this offer of something of value—the paid lawyers—goes a step further than Trump’s mere 'browbeating' that he engaged in during his call with the Georgia secretary of state," Wu added.
According to the Detroit News, McDaniel and then-President Donald Trump called two members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers on November 17, 2020 and urged them to not sign any certification documents following a Board of Canvassers meeting. Unlike Trump's documented efforts to persuade election officials in other states like Georgia, this strategy appears to have worked, at least in the short-term, as both canvassers — Monica Palmer and William Hartmann — went home for the night without signing anything. However, results in Wayne County (Michigan's most populous) were ultimately certified after Palmer and Hartmann "unsuccessfully attempted to rescind their votes for certification."
In addition to providing possible evidence for a criminal investigation, Wu wrote that McDaniel's participation on the call also constituted "profound evidence of the decline of the Republican Party."
"It’s hard to imagine a greater illustration of the GOP’s complete submission to Trump than the RNC chairwoman getting on the phone with him to pressure state officials," Wu wrote. "It’s also a sad picture of just how complicit the Republican Party is with Trump’s effort to foment an insurrection against the Constitution and our democratic processes in order to keep himself in power."
READ MORE: 'Hot water all around': Ex-federal prosecutor says Trump's Michigan call 'almost certainly a crime'
Click here to read Wu's essay in its entirety.
