Pro-Trump lawyer charged in Michigan voting machine scheme

A third person has been charged in a Michigan investigation into attempts to tamper with voting machines after the 2020 election, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Stefanie Lambert, a pro-Trump lawyer who filed cases objecting to election results, was charged with undue possession of a voting machine. The filing follows similar charges announced Tuesday against former GOP attorney general candidate Matthew DePerno and former state Rep. Daire Rendon.

Prosecutors allege Lambert, DePerno and Rendon led a group of people who took five voting machines from multiple counties into a hotel, broke into them and performed “tests” on them. Last year, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Lambert “orchestrated a coordinated plan to gain access to voting tabulators.”

The charges mark the conclusion of a special prosecutor’s investigation into the 2020 election meddling. Nessel’s office delegated the investigation due to potential conflicts of interest, as Nessel and DePerno were opponents in the 2022 election.

The special prosecutor declined to pursue charges against six additional individuals who were listed as part of the scheme by Nessel’s office.

“These charges were authorized by an independent citizens’ grand jury. Protecting the election process is of the utmost importance for our state and country,” special prosecutor D.J. Hilson said in a statement.

Lambert pleaded not guilty to four charges, including undue possession of a voting machine and conspiracy. 

In a statement from her attorney, Lambert denied wrongdoing and accused Hilson of improperly following court procedure.

“Hilson failed to advise the judge and jury of statutes, constitutional law, and legal precedent set by a higher court. He has a continuous obligation to update the court of the law and has yet to do so as of the date and time of arraignment of Stefanie Lambert,” attorney Michael Smith said in a statement reviewed by The Detroit Free Press. 

“My client was a zealous advocate for her clients and she did not violate the law and intends to sue Hilson for malicious prosecution,” Smith added.

Lambert was one of nine “Kraken” attorneys disciplined for their actions in pursuing a suit aiming to overturn the 2020 election in Michigan. Unlike other defendants, she was not levied a fine as she did not directly advocate for the false claims, an appeals court ruled in June.

A similar suit alleging fraud in the 2020 election and demanding that its Michigan results be decertified was dismissed by a federal judge Wednesday.

Former President Trump was arraigned Thursday on federal charges that he orchestrated plans to overturn the 2020 election using fake electoral college votes. Trump endorsed DePerno for his 2022 campaign, and the three defendants each echoed Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent.