So-called alternate electors in Wisconsin for former President Donald Trump have been slapped with a lawsuit demanding $2.4 million in damages as two legitimate electors for the state now allege the Trump activists were part of a destructive civil conspiracy that “laid the groundwork” for the violence of Jan. 6.
The hefty sum is not the only prize the plaintiffs, Khary Penebaker, Mary Arnold, and Bonnie Joseph are after, however. Crucially, they say, they also want the court to disqualify the bunk electors from ever serving in their positions again.
The “alternate elector” scheme underpinned former President Donald Trump’s bid to have the legitimate Electoral College results thrown out when Congress convened on Jan. 6, 2021, to begin the steps necessary for the transfer of power.
The gambit was pushed publicly by Trump's advisers and attorneys like Stephen Miller. Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and others. And the January 6 Committee has unearthed a trove of records in the course of its investigation into the Capitol attack that has shown former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, as a well-worn touchstone for conversations entertaining the bunk elector theory.
Wisconsin was, in fact, just one of seven battleground states where Trump’s electors presented themselves as authorized to cast their slates.
The Trump electors in Wisconsin—Andrew Hitt, Robert Spindell Jr., Bill Feehan, Kelly Ruh, Carol Brunner, Edward Scott Grabins, Kathy Kiernan, Darryl Carlson, Pam Travis, and Mary Buestrin—did this with full knowledge that their actions were unlawful, the lawsuit alleges.
“This plan to override the will of the people with slates of fraudulent electors was as legally baseless as it was repugnant to democracy,” the plaintiffs argued.
[The real Legitimate Electoral Slate for Wisconsin 2020 Election: by Daily Kos on Scribd]
The group used taxpayer-funded resources, including the very room they operated out of in the Wisconsin State Capitol building, to advance the former president’s scheme.
The lawsuit also notes:
“At the time of their meeting, the Fraudulent Elector Defendants were not duly elected presidential electors for the State of Wisconsin. Instead, all but Kiernan were nominated by the Republican Party of Wisconsin on Oct. 6 as candidates for the office of presidentia lelector. Kiernan was not nominated by any party as a candidate for the office of presidential elector.
The actions taken by Trump’s “alternate” electors were particularly damaging to people’s faith in the integrity of U.S. elections.
“If citizens believe that their votes can be overridden by the scheming of partisan actors, they will have little incentive to participate in the political process. And if voters are falsely told that an election was stolen from them, they will doubt the legitimacy of their government and its actions,” the plaintiffs wrote.
And while Trump’s electors were not successful—the National Archives rejected the slate because it was not properly authorized—they still “caused significant harm simply by trying” to subvert the process, the lawsuit contends.
“There is every reason to believe that they will try again if given the opportunity,” attorneys for Penebaker, Arnold, and Joseph wrote in the 55-page complaint.
Meanwhile, more has been revealed about the steady creep of Trump’s Big Lie ahead of Jan. 6.
The Washington Post reported first on Tuesday that two pro-Trump activists met with a top Trump-appointed official at the State Department on the same day of the Capitol attack.
Robert Destro, who served as the assistant secretary of state under Trump, confirmed to the press Tuesday that he met with Joe Oltmann, a pro-Trump podcaster from Colorado, and Matthew DePerno, an attorney from Michigan who also promoted claims that Trump had won the 2020 election.
DePerno, notably, is now running for the attorney general seat in Michigan. Destro could not be reached by Daily Kos Tuesday but according to CNN, he declined to comment beyond his initial comment to the Post.
The former assistant secretary of state for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor under Trump said:
“I met with hundreds of American citizens and foreign nationals during my time at State, all of whom had foreign-focused issues to discuss,” Destro told the Washington Post. “I won’t talk about any of the details of those meetings, either.”
Oltmann has stated publicly on his podcast that he met with officials at the State Department, including just a week after the Capitol attack. Oltmann said in one podcast on Jan. 11 that he had met with “leadership at every level” of the State Department.
“Bar none,” he said.
In a notable detail by the Post:
“Oltmann also described being taken to a secure area of the building that was “cherry wood lined” with “pictures of past presidents and people who have served.” The description appears to match the area of the State Department’s seventh floor known as Mahogany Row, where the offices of the secretary and his top aides are located. The assistant secretary position then-held by Destro does not typically have an office on Mahogany Row.”
