Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says her GOP opponent Matt DePerno was among a group who engaged in a conspiracy to gain improper access to voting machines.
GOP AG candidate DePerno has been backed by Trump.
On Saturday at the CPAC convention, Trump praised DePerno, a controversial figure, even within his own party.
“Now, I’ve known him for a long time. He is so tough people are afraid to even be in the same room with him,” Trump said.
“He’s going to make sure you have law and order, and fair elections and so many other things. He is respected by everybody in that state. Matt DePerno. That’s an important race.”
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A months-long investigation by the AG’s office and the Michigan State Police revealed the group’s efforts involved convincing local clerks to hand over tabulators, taking the tabulators to hotels or rental properties in Oakland County, breaking into the machines, printing “fake ballots” and performing “tests” on the equipment.
The petition states that DePerno was present at one of the hotels for “testing.”
Others involved in the scheme included state Rep. Daire Rendon and Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf.
- DePerno gave an interview to OAN news on May 4, 2021 featuring “a systems vulnerability expert” who used a tabulator covered in red duct tape to demonstrate how votes could be flipped. It is not clear from the video if that was one of the compromised machines. The attorney general’s office declined to comment.
Nessel is asking a state agency, the Michigan Prosecuting Attorneys Coordinating Council, to appoint a special prosecutor to remove an inherent conflict of interest in making potential charging decisions.
The petition to the Coordinating Council lists nine individuals, and potential charges include “but are not limited to” conspiracy, using a computer system to commit a crime, willfully damaging a voting machine, malicious destruction of property, fraudulent access to a computer or computer system and false pretenses, the document says.
It’s a five-year felony for a person to obtain undue possession of a voting machine used in an election. It’s also a five-year felony to conspire with another person to commit an offense that is prohibited by law.