As Republicans in Michigan seek to make sure that every legal vote was counted – and every illegal vote discounted – in their state, that state’s highest law enforcement officer is looking for ways to punish them.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, is seeking guidance on whether that state’s Republican legislators who are challenge the certification of Michigan’s election results can be criminally charged.
Included in that inquiry is whether she can also charge them with even talking to President Trump or his team about the issue.
The Washington Post reports that Nessel is conferring with election law experts on whether those elected officials have violated any state laws “prohibiting them from engaging in bribery, perjury and conspiracy,” according to individuals familiar with Nessel’s inner circle.
Michigan attorney general ponders criminal probes of state and local officials who bend to Trump’s will on overturning election results https://t.co/4LkOqZssT1
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 21, 2020
This attempt by Nessel to manufacture politically based charges because elected officials seek to defend their constituents’ rights to a fair, undiluted, and non-corrupt election is considered an impeachable offense by some legal scholars.
Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law expert and professor at George Washington University Law School said, “When Democrats like Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) challenged the certification of Ohio’s electoral votes in 2004, no one suggested criminal investigations.”
“Nessel is threatening state legislators that, if they meet to discuss such objections, they might be targets of criminal investigations,” Turley continued. “That would seem an effort to use the criminal code for the purposes of intimidation or coercion.”
Michigan AG Nessel and others are suggesting that Republicans who oppose certification or even meet with President Trump on the issue could be criminally investigated or charged. Once again, the media is silent on this abusive use of the criminal code. https://t.co/IlEQ3roKsE
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 21, 2020
Nessel has proven herself in recent months to not only be partisan, but to wear her radical ideology on her sleeve.
On November 11, 2020, Nessel said the Trump campaign’s legitimate lawsuits in the state of Michigan claiming election fraud were based on racism.
“Really, the themes that we see, that persist, are this: Black people are corrupt, Black people are incompetent and Black people can’t be trusted,” Nessel said to the Detroit Free Press. “That’s the narrative that is continually espoused by the Trump campaign and their allies in these lawsuits.”
