Michigan AG executes search warrants on Google and X in ongoing 2020 fake electors probe
CNN
—
Google and CNN revealed secret social media accounts It is owned by pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro, who played a key role in the fake voter conspiracy.
The previously unreported arrest warrants gave prosecutors access to Chesebro’s new emails and his private Twitter direct messages. Arrest warrants show Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is still gathering new information in her investigation, nine months later She has accused fake voters in the state With forgery and other crimes due to signing certificates falsely claiming that Donald Trump won the state in 2020.
A senior member of her team Saw last week The investigation is ongoing and Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator in the case, which is not expected to go to trial before the November election.
Michigan is among a number of states investigating fake voter schemes. Just last week, prosecutors in Arizona File criminal charges Against pro-Trump voters there and allies of the former president who participated in efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
According to new documents filed with Michigan prosecutors and obtained by CNN, Chesebro unsuccessfully tried to bring several controversial pro-Trump figures to Washington, D.C., to watch the “fake voter” strategy unfold on January 6, 2021.
He offered to pay for the former Milwaukee County mayor’s airfare and stay at Trump’s upscale hotel in D.C David ClarkAnd also to the founder Critic portal The location of the plot, among others. It does not appear that anyone accepted his offers.
These messages also show how Chesebro aggressively reached out to conservative pundits and right-wing figures after Trump lost the 2020 election, urging them to publicly promote his policies. Long range theories How to subvert the Electoral College process.
Search warrants for Google and X were executed in March, shortly after CNN reported that Chesebro had hidden some of his social media accounts from prosecutors during his tenure. Collaboration session last year. Chesebro has not been charged in Michigan, and he has already done so Admission of guilt In an election interference investigation in Georgia.
CNN has reached out to Chesebro’s attorney for comment.
Direct messages obtained by CNN chronicle how Chesebro, while advising the Trump campaign on the fake voter conspiracy, was also trying to garner friendly news coverage by relentlessly promoting conservative radio hosts and pro-Trump pundits.
He shared what appeared to be unsolicited guidance to Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft, advising him on how to craft his site’s coverage of the January 6 certification proceedings in Congress.
“It would be helpful to announce that if (then-Vice President Mike) Pence claimed the authority to resolve disputes over electoral votes on January 6, he would simply do what (Thomas) Jefferson did,” Chesebro told Hooft. The letter is dated December 27, 2020.
“Excellent!! Thanks,” Hooft responded using the handle @GatewayPundit.
Two days later, Chesebrough told Hooft that he had reserved a block of rooms at the Trump International Hotel, and that Hooft could stay there “for free” if he wanted.
Shortly thereafter, Chesebrough made similar offers to Clark and his wife, as well as to Wisconsin radio host Vicki McKenna and her husband, according to emails obtained by CNN.
“I’m happy to pay for the flights if it will help,” Chesebro told McKenna, according to the documents. “It’s really not a big deal; I have done very well financially in the past few years. I would be thrilled if you could be at the center of Trump World!
Hooft informed Chesebro that he had his own residence in the capital. Hooft’s attorney declined to comment for this story. McKenna did not respond to requests for comment.
When Chesebro met with Nessel’s investigators in December, they asked him about his social media accounts. In addition to hiding his secret Twitter account, Chesebro told investigators that he did not use social media applications to send and receive private messages.
This denial is undermined by materials provided by
During the closed-door interview, an investigator asked Chesebro about social media apps he used where “people can send you direct messages, private messages to you,” according to a recording obtained by CNN.
“The only messaging apps I’ve used — like Messages, right? I realize there’s that capability — are iMessage,” Chesebrough replied. “I know there’s Twitter for direct messaging,” he also said, but he didn’t say he uses Twitter for direct messaging.
Chesebro’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the discrepancy.
In the wake of the 2020 election, Chesebro also sent some direct messages on Twitter to James Wedderson, a longtime writer on Wisconsin politics who ran a conservative news website. Chesebro was trying to cover up allegations of irregularities in Wisconsin’s results, according to documents obtained by CNN.
“You can get me these. Thanks. Trump lost,” Wigderson told Chesebrough. I don’t have time for conspiracy theories. Trump lost. Thank you for understanding.
Portions of this exchange were previously reported by The New York Times.
Chesebro also questioned several other Wisconsin political pundits and legal scholars, including some with whom he sparred in public Twitter posts. Most of them were ignored.
One lawyer specifically targeted by Chesebro is Daniel Rodriguez, who attended Northwestern University Law School with Chesebro and is now a professor there. On December 29, 2020, Chesebro sent Rodriguez a link to a new lawsuit from the Trump campaign trying to overturn the Wisconsin results. Rodriguez responded with, “LOL.”
“I don’t remember this exact exchange, but my best guess is that ‘LOL’ it was because this phony voter lawsuit was and is crazy,” Rodriguez told CNN in an email.
The Wisconsin lawsuits — like dozens of other election lawsuits involving Trump — have failed in court.
This story has been updated with additional details.
