Trump is a co-conspirator in Michigan's 2020 false electors plot, state investigator says

"It's unfortunate to see so many so-called “leaders” who are willing to eviscerate our entire justice system in their quest to take down President Donald Trump and anyone willing to take on the ruling regime," Goodman said.

Trial decision delayed

The preliminary examinations for six of the Republican electors concluded Wednesday. Through the proceedings, Ingham County District Judge Kristen Simmons will eventually determine whether Nessel's office has presented enough evidence to show there is probable cause to believe that crimes occurred and the defendants should be bound over for trial.

But that decision won't come until after nine other GOP electors' preliminary examinations end in early June. Those court hearings are set to begin May 28.

Cox, who was the leader of the Michigan GOP at the time of the 2020 election, testified in the first round of examinations in December. Cox said she had concerns over the certificate Republicans signed on Dec. 14, 2020.

"They weren’t the electors at that moment ... in my opinion," Cox said of Dec. 14, 2020.

Cox, a former state lawmaker from Livonia, said she wanted the Republicans to use a different document that simply said they were "available to meet and perform their duties as a presidential elector," instead of claiming they were casting Michigan's electoral votes for Trump.

Some of the defense lawyers have argued that their clients didn't understand what they were signing when they gathered in Michigan GOP headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020. They've also contended that it was Trump campaign advisers who orchestrated the false certificate.

During a hearing in February, Kahla Crino, an assistant attorney general, described the effort to submit false certificates claiming Trump won the 2020 presidential election as a "multi-state criminal conspiracy that was absolutely linked" to Trump's campaign.

Internal Trump campaign emails obtained by investigators and previously reviewed by The Detroit News showed Trump's campaign staff helped coordinate the Republicans' meeting on Dec. 14, 2020, when the electors signed the certificate.

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