Wisconsin judge rules Trump aides must face trial in 2020 fake elector scheme
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge ruled Monday there is enough evidence to proceed to trial in a felony forgery case against an attorney and an aide to President Donald Trump for their role in the 2020 fake elector scheme.
The charges relate to attempts by the former aides to present a slate of Republican electors to Congress falsely claiming that Trump had won Wisconsin that year even though he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
The Wisconsin case is moving forward even as others in the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia have faltered. A special prosecutor last year dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Another case in Nevada is still alive.
Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland ruled that there was probable cause to proceed with the 11 felony forgery charges against Jim Troupis, who was Trump’s campaign attorney in Wisconsin, and Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in 2020.
Those charged claim they committed no crime and were just trying to keep their options alive in case a court ruled that Trump had actually won the state.
“That’s not a forgery,” Troupis’s defense attorney Joe Bugni said.
But the judge said communication from the defendants showed their intent to present as legitimate a certificate awarding Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes to Trump, not a document to be accepted only if a court ruled that Trump won the state.
