MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed forgery charges Tuesday against two lawyers and an assistant who helped file paperwork falsely saying former President Donald Trump won the battleground state in 2020.
The charges were filed against Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro, 62, and Jim Troupis, 70, and former Trump aide Mike Roman, 51, who allegedly handed Wisconsin’s fake voter ID credentials to a Pennsylvania congressman’s staffer to use at then-Vice President Mike. Pence on January 6, 2021.
All three are scheduled to appear in Dane County Circuit Court on September 19, according to court records.
Troupis and Chesebro did not return voicemail messages Tuesday. Roman did not have an attorney listed in the lawsuits.
Kaul, a Democrat, has been under pressure to take action against the 10 fake voters, who have not yet been charged with any criminal wrongdoing. He has previously suggested he relied on federal investigators, but has not ruled out a state investigation either.
Electors are people appointed to represent voters in presidential elections. The winner of the popular vote in each state determines which party’s electors will be sent to the Electoral College, which meets in December after the election to determine the outcome.
The voter fraud efforts are at the center of a federal indictment filed against Trump in August, alleging he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Federal prosecutors, who are investigating his conduct in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, have also said the scheme originated in Wisconsin. Trump also faces charges in Georgia and has denied wrongdoing.
Michigan and Nevada have also brought criminal charges against fake voters.
Chesebro and Roman were among 18 people charged along with Trump in a sweeping racketeering indictment in Georgia in August. They are accused of participating in a vast scheme to illegally overturn the 2020 election in that state.
Chesebro pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of conspiracy to file false documents after reaching a deal with prosecutors. Roman has pleaded not guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges related to a scheme to get Republican electors to gather and cast Electoral College votes for Trump even though Biden had won Georgia.
Wisconsin voters Chesebro and Troup all settled a civil lawsuit filed against them last year.
Documents released as part of those settlements showed that the strategy in Wisconsin replicated moves in six other swing states.
Trump lost Wisconsin to Biden, a Democrat, by fewer than 21,000 votes. Trump carried Wisconsin by a similar margin in 2016.
Wisconsin is again one of the few swing states this year.
Government and outside investigations have conclusively found that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could have affected the 2020 election. But Trump has continued to spread falsehoods about the election, especially in Wisconsin.
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Associated Press writer Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.
