In response to reportedly recorded discussions between individuals partially responsible for the certification of election results in Michigan, the still serving national chairwoman of the Republican Party, and now former President Donald Trump, former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann says there could be new charges.
The recorded audio evidently shows GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel offering legal assistance if targeted individuals in the results certification process in Michigan went along with pro-Trump ambitions, which it’s been suggested could amount to attempted bribery.
Reportedly, a recording captured a November 2020 conversation involving Trump, McDaniel, and the two Michigan figures, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann. They served in Wayne County, the state’s most populated county. And reports say that Trump was on board with the idea of legal representation for the officials who were put under pressure. “We’ll take care of that,” he apparently said.
“Bribing, and also receiving a bribe, are potential state crimes, but they’re also potential federal crimes along the lines that Jack Smith has already charged with respect to Donald Trump,” Weissmann said. “But there are other people involved in this scheme who could be charged and the subject of criminal investigation. So he has ample authority to continue investigating, and he or Michigan may — if they can prove this up, and there are tape recordings — could use these tapes to bring state or federal charges.”
Michigan authorities have already brought a slew of other charges related to schemes after the 2020 elections targeting the results, with criminal allegations implicating individuals in the state who signed on as sham electors backing Trump despite Biden’s win. Also charged in the state were individuals accused of a plot that saw them take possession of election equipment in a mirror of efforts across contested states in which Trump allies tried to covertly assemble data from election systems that could supposedly prove their (false) fraud claims.
Check out Weissmann’s comments below:
