Report: DOJ pardon attorney has clemency plans for Michigan 2020 GOP false electors

Yahoo

2 days ago

Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford) is joined by his wife Meshawn Maddock in the Michigan state House on the first session day on Jan. 8, 2025. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols)
U.S. Department of Justice pardon attorney Ed Martin Jr. not only has plans to pardon the men convicted in planning to kidnap and kill Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, he also has a framework for granting clemency to the 2020 Republican false electors, according to a report released Wednesday.
Martin has now indicated that he is eyeing federal pardons for Republican state-level electors who allegedly helped President Donald Trump attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, according to a report from Mother Jones.
In Michigan, 15 of Trump's 16 presidential electors were charged with state forgery and conspiracy crimes and are awaiting word from a Lansing district court judge on whether they will stand trial. One of those electors has since pleaded guilty and assisted the Michigan Department of Attorney General with its investigation and prosecution. Despite those charges coming from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a person familiar with Martin's plans said that the state electors could be next for consideration.
The plan was framed as a wide-ranging effort to wipe away the memory of Trump's attempts to overturn the election, which has included pardons for January 6 U.S. Capitol insurrectionists. The plan is also meant to elevate the department's actions in a highly public way, showing that the federal government is working to gloss over the Trump campaign's actions following his loss to former President Joe Biden.
'We'll be a little bit more outward-facing in terms of talking about what's happening,' Mother Jones reported Martin as saying at a May press conference outlining his plans. 'The law can be taken up, but the starting point is to make sure that the public sees that we're doing it.'
The 2020 Trump electors charged in the matter include former Michigan Republican Party co-chair Meshawn Maddock and former Republican National Committeewoman Kathleen Berden.
Martin said, quite candidly, in May that Barry Croft and Adam Fox, who were convicted of planning to kidnap Whitmer from her Elk Rapids vacation home along with a cadre of militia recruits, were also on the list for consideration.
Trump later acknowledged that he would take a look at Croft and Fox's case. The Detroit News is reporting that Whitmer said she spoke with Trump this week about the idea of giving Fox and Croft pardons.
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