A Republican-led probe in Michigan this week debunked former President Donald Trump's numerous lies about the 2020 presidential election and found no evidence of "an organized, wide-scale effort to commit fraudulent activity was perpetrated in order to subvert the will of Michigan voters."
This news was not welcome by many of the former president's supporters in Michigan, however, and the Washington Post reports that many armed Trump supporters have been protesting outside the state Capitol building demanding that the state conduct an Arizona-style "audit" of its election results.
"They are lying," attorney Matthew DePerno, an attorney who was cited in the Michigan State Senate report for making "ludicrous" claims, said recently to cheering supporters during a pro-"audit" rally. "These people have committed crimes!"
An audience member then yelled out, "Put them in shackles!" as the crowd roared in approval, according to the Post.
The Post notes that "the drumbeat for audits has been accompanied by increasingly violent and vitriolic threats against state and local officials" and that "the escalating rhetoric has left legislators from both parties lamenting what happened to the state that was home to moderate political consensus builders such as President Gerald Ford, governor George Romney and the late representative John Dingell."