3 Trump allies charged in Wisconsin over ‘fake electors’ scheme

Wisconsin’s attorney general on Tuesday charged three people involved in a scheme to send slates of pro-Trump “fake electors” in 2020.

Kenneth Chesebro, James Troupis and Michael Roman — allies to the former president who each played different roles in his 2020 campaign efforts — were charged in state court with a single count of forgery, a low-level felony, a court docket shows.

Following the election, all three men were involved in a plan to send slates of pro-Trump electors to Congress in battleground states the former president lost to Joe Biden.

Though the scheme ultimately spanned seven states, the effort spawned in Wisconsin, including when Chesebro in the days following the election communicated with Troupis, a former state judge, and wrote a series of memos devising the strategy.

Roman, a Trump campaign political operative, allegedly helped coordinate the efforts in multiple states alongside Chesebro and called for a tracker to be made of the individuals who would sign the documents, intended to be sent to Congress for counting on Jan. 6, 2021.

Copies of the criminal complaints were not immediately available, but the court docket indicates the date of the offense was two weeks following Election Day in 2020.

Wisconsin is the fifth state to bring charges against individuals involved in the “fake elector” scheme, though Trump allies sought to execute the plan in seven battleground states.

State and local prosecutors previously brought charges in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada. The attorney general in New Mexico said the state’s laws prevent criminal prosecution there, and Pennsylvania’s top prosecutor at the time made similar remarks.

Chesebro and Roman were previously indicted alongside Trump in Georgia over similar alleged conduct.

Chesebro has since pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate, while Roman maintains his innocence. He first revealed the accusations of misconduct against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) over her romance with a top prosecutor on the case. Roman also faces charges in Arizona.

Chesebro reportedly sat for interviews in Arizona and Nevada, where charges were eventually filed against several Republicans, including top Trump allies.

In Wisconsin, none of the 10 individuals who signed the Electoral College documents have been charged, though they have faced civil litigation.

Though Tuesday marks the first criminal charges against Chesebro and Troupis in Wisconsin, they faced a civil lawsuit brought by Democrats there in 2022, which was settled in March. As part of the agreement, they turned over more than 1,400 documents and agreed never to participate in similar efforts, though the agreement did not include any admission of wrongdoing or liability.

“The criminal complaint in this case alleges that the defendants were part of a conspiracy to present a certificate of purported electoral votes from individuals who were not Wisconsin’s duly appointed electors,” Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement. “The Wisconsin Department of Justice is committed to protecting the integrity of our electoral process.”

“Good,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) wrote on the social platform X. 

The three Trump allies’ initial court appearance in Wisconsin is scheduled for Sept. 19.

Updated at 1:17 p.m. EDT