Former Trump attorney says he's a victim of 'lawfare' after initial court appearance in Wisconsin fake electors case

Source: Spectrum News NY1/AP

UPDATED 6:55 PM ET Dec. 12, 2024 PUBLISHED 3:28 PM ET Dec. 12, 2024


MADISON, Wis. — President-elect Donald Trump’s former Wisconsin attorney lashed out Thursday at the state’s Democratic attorney general for filing felony charges against him and two others related to the 2020 fake electors scheme, saying after their initial court appearance that he was the victim of “lawfare” that wreaked havoc on his life. Jim Troupis, a former Wisconsin judge who represented Trump in 2020, was the only one of the three defendants to appear in person at the hearing.

Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who advised Trump’s 2020 campaign, and Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in 2020, appeared by phone. All three are charged with 11 felony forgery counts. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. A court commissioner set a preliminary hearing for all three for Jan. 28. They will enter their pleas at their arraignment, which is not yet scheduled.

“My family and I have endured nonstop vicious and unrelenting savage attacks on my reputation, on my livelihood,” Troupis said outside of the courtroom surrounded by supporters, including former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott McCallum. “My children have been interrogated. My long-held friendships and professional life have been destroyed.” Kaul did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Troupis defended the strategy of having the GOP electors meet, saying it was necessary in case a court ruled that Trump won Wisconsin. Troupis, in comments after the brief hearing, said Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has “doubled down on a vicious strategy to destroy our very faith in the system of justice by using the courts for his own personal political game.”

Read more: https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2024/12/12/jim-troupis-wisconsin-fake-electors