MAGA influencer hired by battleground county to recruit poll workers in Michigan: report

Macomb County in Michigan has hired a MAGA conspiracy theorist who urged Trump supporters to "storm the gates" of the Capitol on Jan. 6.

"The talent-development official, Genevieve Peters, also joined armed members of the Proud Boys for a 2020 rally at the Michigan Capitol and live-streamed a 'Stop the Steal' protest outside the home of Michigan’s secretary of state," Politico reported. "She has made numerous social media posts of herself mingling with Proud Boys including marching alongside its leader, Joe Biggs, according to social media postings by citizen journalists tracking extremists including Chad Loder, whose work to identify Jan. 6 participants has been cited in at least one Department of Justice charging document."

Peters, who vowed Jan. 6 was "only the beginning," was reportedly hired as a “talent development specialist."

"Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini, a Republican, told POLITICO that Peters was hired in May to help recruit poll workers," the publication reported. "Forlini said he is aware Peters attended the Jan. 6 protests. What she may have done 'in her personal life' predates her work in his office, he said, noting he did not interview her himself."

A spokesperson for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said her office is monitoring the situation and “the potential challenges that may arise from it.”

Peters reportedly led "Stop the Steal" rallies in Detroit and Lansing.

"According to a Jan. 6 evidence gallery crowdsourced by citizen journalists, Peters arrived with friends with a portable stage and loudspeakers at the west side of the Capitol, eventually telling the crowd 'we have breached the Capitol' and that 'there is no better cause' for being arrested than standing up for then-President Donald Trump," Politico reported. "There had also been photos of Peters on social media in the lobby of the [Michigan] Capitol with a group of men wearing shirts associated with the extremist Boogaloo movement, according to Raw Story, and with a number of Trump’s highest-profile election conspiracy backers, including his confidant Roger Stone and Marjorie Taylor Greene, the U.S. House member from Georgia who is known for her QAnon conspiracy theories."