Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said the Republican electors who tried to keep former President Donald Trump in office in 2020 were brainwashed.
The attorney general made the comments Monday at a virtual event hosted by Protectors of Equality in Government, a liberal group, to discuss the messaging surrounding the 2020 election cases that involve Mr. Trump and his allies.
In July, she called 16 electors fake after they signed letters that said the former president won the election.
“People talk a lot about, oh, why don’t you start flipping some of those people so that they can become witnesses against the remaining defendants, the worst-acting defendants,” Ms. Nessel said in the recording obtained by CNN. “The problem is, these are people who have been brainwashed.”
Each of those electors was charged with eight felony counts, including conspiracy to commit election law forgery. They all pleaded not guilty.
Kevin Kijewski, an attorney for Clifford Frost, one of the electors, told CNN that Ms. Nessel’s remarks were “disturbing.”
“This seems to be more of a political calculation by the attorney general, as opposed to trying to seek out the truth and adjudicate this case on the merits,” he said, adding that her remarks were “not only defamatory but also damaging to the trust that people have in our judicial system, and to the rule of law.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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