According to search warrants obtained after AWN exposed secret social media accounts belonging to pro-Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro—who was heavily involved in the fake electors plot—investigators in Michigan’s 2020 election subversion probe received hundreds of files from Google and X (formerly Twitter).
Previously undisclosed orders granted prosecutors access to newly discovered emails belonging to Chesebro as well as his private Twitter communications. A full nine months have passed since Attorney General Dana Nessel filed charges against the state’s phony electors, who signed documents fraudulently stating that Donald Trump had won the state in 2020, and the warrants show that she is still collecting new evidence in her investigation.
It is not anticipated that the case would get to trial prior to the November election, according to a senior member of her team’s testimony last week, but the investigation is continuing and Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator.
A number of states are looking into scams involving fraudulent electors, and Michigan is one of them. Prosecutors in Arizona moved swiftly last week to press criminal charges against pro-Trump electors and former president’s associates implicated in the campaign to nullify the 2020 election.
New records given to prosecutors in Michigan, which AWN received, show that on January 6, 2021, Chesebro attempted in vain to lure other controversial Trump supporters to Washington, DC, to observe the implementation of his “fake electors” plan.
He extended an offer to cover travel expenses and hotel stays at Trump’s plush Washington, DC, property for a number of people, including the creator of the conspiracy website Gateway Pundit and former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. His offers seem to have gone unaccepted.
Also revealed in these letters is Chesebro’s relentless outreach to right-wing figures and conservative commentators following Trump’s 2020 loss, with the explicit goal of having them publicly advocate his theoretically implausible plans to undermine the Electoral College.
In March, following AWN’s report that Chesebro had hidden several of his social media accounts from prosecutors during his cooperation session last year, the search orders to Google and X were executed. While Chesebro has pled guilty in Georgia’s investigation into election meddling, he remains free from charges in Michigan.
AWN has requested a statement from the lawyers representing Chesebro.
Amplifying assistance
Chesebro was seeking to get favorable news coverage by persistently pitching to conservative radio hosts and pro-Trump pundits, according to the direct messages obtained by AWN, while also advising the Trump team on the phony electors conspiracy.
It seemed like he gave Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft some unsolicited advice on how to present the certification hearing in Congress on January 6 in his site’s coverage.
Chesebro informed Hoft in a correspondence dated December 27, 2020, that if Vice President Mike Pence asserts his authority to settle disputes regarding the electoral votes on January 6, he would merely be following in Thomas Jefferson’s footsteps.
“Great job! As a response, Hoft used the @GatewayPundit account and mentioned gratitude.
Hoft was informed two days later by Chesebro that he had booked a block of rooms at the Trump International Hotel and that he may stay there “gratis” if he so desired.
According to emails obtained by AWN, Chesebro later extended similar invitations to Clarke and his wife, Vicki McKenna and her husband from Wisconsin, and Clarke and his wife as well.
The documents show that Chesebro told McKenna, “Happy to pay for flights if that would help.”. I’ve been financially rather successful in the past few years, so it’s really not a huge concern. Plus, it would be wonderful if you could be the focal point of the Trump universe!
Hoft let Chesebro know that he had his own place to stay in Washington, DC. The Hoft legal team did not want to be interviewed for this piece. When asked for remark, McKenna remained silent.
Immediate resistance
In addition, Chesebro contacted James Wigderson, a conservative news site operator and long-time reporter covering Wisconsin politics. The records that AWN was able to get indicate that Chesebro was attempting to generate attention around allegations of irregularities in the Wisconsin results.
You don’t have to give me this things. I am grateful. “I really don’t have time for conspiracy theories,” Wigderson told Chesebro after Trump’s loss. Thank you for comprehending.
The New York Times has published excerpts from this conversation in the past.
In addition to publicly sparring with other Wisconsin political analysts and legal professors on Twitter, Chesebro privately penned messages to a number of them. Ignored by most.
Chesebro personally pursued a number of lawyers, including Daniel Rodriguez, a former law school classmate of Chesebro’s and now a professor at Northwestern University. Rodriguez was notified by Chesebro of a new lawsuit attempting to invalidate the Wisconsin findings on December 29, 2020. In response, Rodriguez typed out “LOL.”
“I don’t recall this particular exchange,” Rodriguez explained to AWN via email, “but I would venture to say that the ‘LOL’ was prompted by the fact that this entire false electors lawsuit business was, and is, absolutely bonkers.”
Countless other lawsuits challenging Trump’s election also ended in failure for the state of Wisconsin.
