posted September 09, 2025 03:26 PM            

Story by Brady Knox, Washington Examiner

District Court Judge Kristen D. Simmons announced on Tuesday that the 15 Michigan Republicans, who faced charges of forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery, would not stand trial after two years of deliberations. The defendants faced 14 years in prison if convicted.

The Michigan case began in 2023, when Michigan's Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel brought charges against the Trump allies who were alleged to have tried to replace the state's electoral votes for former President Joe Biden with those of Trump. All pleaded not guilty.

The dismissal marks yet another defeat for Democratic prosecutors who sought to charge Trump allies over their actions around the charged 2020 elections. Similar cases in Nevada, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Arizona have failed to reach the trial stage, bombarded by delays.

Among those charged were the former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, Meshawn Maddock, and Kathy Berden, a Michigan committeewoman for the Republican National Committee. A 16th defendant, James Renner, had his charges dropped after he reached a cooperation agreement with prosecutors. He said he realized he acted improperly after reviewing the House investigation into the Jan. 6 riot.

TRUMP LISTED AS UNINDICTED CO-CONSPIRATOR IN MICHIGAN FAKE ELECTORS CASE

“I can’t overemphasize how, once I read the information in the J6 transcripts, how upset I was that the legitimate process had not been followed,” Renner said in an interview with investigators, according to an audio recording obtained by the New York Times. “I felt that I had been walked into a situation that I shouldn’t have ever been involved in.”

Trump, his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and former personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, were identified as unindicted co-conspirators in the Michigan case, a title used for someone who has been accused of a crime but not legally charged.