Six of the 15 GOP electors whose charges were later dropped and have received a pardon from President Trump: (clockwise) Kent Vanderwood, Meshawn Maddock, Marian Sheridan, Kathy Berden, Stanley Grot and Clifford Frost
Updated 5:09 p.m.
Late Sunday night, President Donald Trump issued pardons for more than 75 people for “offenses related to the 2020 presidential election” — including the 16 Michigan Republican electors who allegedly signed a false certification of the 2020 election results for Donald Trump.
The “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons were announced on the personal X account of Trump’s pardon attorney, Ed Martin, at nearly 11 p.m. on Sunday, writing, “Important pardon of Alternate Electors of 2020!!”
The pardoned alleged false electors include Republican National Committeewoman Kathy Berden and former Michigan Republican Party co-chair Meshawn Maddock, as well as former Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro. Chesebro pleaded guilty in 2023 to a felony charge of conspiracy for his work to overturn election results in a number of swing states, including Michigan.
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According to testimony from Howard Shock, a special agent investigator with the Michigan Department of Attorney General, Chesebro, at that time a lawyer on Trump’s team, allegedly sent an email on Dec. 10, 2020 to Marian Sheridan, one of the Michigan residents who has been pardoned, with a certificate stating that Trump had won Michigan’s electoral votes in the 2020 election — already listing the vote count of 16 electors, prior to their vote.
Sheridan, Shock testified, wrote back to Chesebro to say, “I believe I can be more effective in getting the other 15 electors involved in this effort for December 14th,” referring to the alleged attempt to create an “alternate slate” of electors that would cast votes for Trump, despite his losing the state by over 150,000 votes in the general election.
Howard Shock, an investigator with the Michigan Department of Attorney General, testifies in the exam of six of the so-called “fake electors”. May 28, 2024. Screenshot.
The other alleged false electors from Michigan pardoned were Hank Choate, Amy Facchinello, Clifford Frost, Stanley Grot, John Haggard, Mary-Ann Henry, Timothy King, Michele Lundgren, James Renner, Mayra Rodriguez, Rose Rook, Kenneth Thompson and Kent Vanderwood. That list includes a number of local GOP leaders from around the state.
“In 2020, President Trump launched an all-out assault against American democracy in his efforts to overturn the presidential election results and preserve his hold on power,” Attorney General Dana Nessel wrote in a statement. “Today, President Trump pardoned more than 70 individuals, many of whom authored, executed, or otherwise knowingly assisted the President’s plot and efforts to overturn the election. Any other characterization of this outrageous slate of pardons is only a further attack on our sacred ideals of a government by, for and of the people.”
The pardons are largely symbolic, as they only apply to federal charges, which none of the individuals on the list were facing.
In Michigan, Lansing 54-A District Court Judge Kristen Simmons dismissed the charges against the alleged false electors in September, arguing that prosecutors had failed to give evidence that those signing the document had criminal intent. Those charges were dismissed against 15 of those pardoned by Trump — all except for Renner, who had previously had his case dropped by Nessel’s office after signing a cooperation agreement.
Renner had argued in court that all 16 of those charged did not believe they were engaging in illegal activity by signing documents saying that they were the state’s electors, and had been made to believe that it was an “appropriate process.”
“Federal pardons do not apply to state charges alleging violations of state law. My office continues to review the decision of Judge Kristen Simmons to dismiss state criminal charges against Michigan residents who falsely attested to be duly elected electors on behalf of Donald Trump,” Nessel added, noting that her office has worked to obtain the trial transcripts of those court hearings but has not received a response or acknowledgement from the court. “Once we have the transcript of the District Court’s ruling, we will decide whether to file an application for leave challenging the District Court’s failure to bind over the false slate.”
Another Trump attorney pardoned on Sunday, Sidney Powell, led a number of lawsuits in Michigan seeking to halt the certification of the 2020 election results and overturn them in favor of Trump. She had also pleaded guilty in 2023 to election interference, specifically related to charges in Georgia.
The pardons also included false electors from Georgia, Wisconsin and Arizona among other states where Trump had sought to overturn election results, as well as notable Trump administration figures, like Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, who both testified in the Michigan House of Representatives in late 2020 in a campaign to unfounded allegations of widespread election fraud.
This story was updated to include statements from Attorney General Dana Nessel.
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