A state judge in Wisconsin has thwarted a bid by the state's fake electors to try to dismiss a civil suit brought against them for their scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in that state, reported the Associated Press on Thursday.
Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington rejected the ten fake electors' effort, and has scheduled a jury trial in the matter for September 2024. Two Democratic electors and one voter brought the suit, which demands $2.4 million in damages from the fake electors, as well as two attorneys for former President Donald Trump — and seeks for a court order barring them from ever serving as real electors.
This comes after the same judge revived a complaint from Law Forward that seeks sanctions against the electors by the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
In a statement, Wisconsin Republican Party Executive Director Mark Jefferson is defiant and confident the lawsuit will fail.
“As the Wisconsin electors have consistently said, all action taken to produce an alternate slate was only done to preserve an ongoing legal strategy and only to be used in the event a court of law gave the alternate slate meaning,” Jefferson said. “We were not informed of any use of the alternate electors contrary to preserving the legal strategy and would not have approved any other use.”
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The fake electors, who were planned by Trump and his associates to be a pretext for former Vice President Mike Pence illegally excluding the real ones to throw the results of the electoral count, have been a major point of investigation in multiple states. In Georgia, they are part of the criminal investigation by Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis. In Michigan, the electors have already been charged by state Attorney General Dana Nessel. Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul has said he may bring state charges himself, pending the results of federal investigations.
The Wisconsin and Michigan fake electors became a significant national focus after it was revealed that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) allegedly tried to deliver the information about them to Pence ahead of the certification. Johnson has admitted he was in the loop on this scheme but has downplayed his role.
