Former Trump aides set to appear in Wisconsin over 2020 election fraud
charges
[December 15, 2025]
By SCOTT BAUER
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Two former attorneys and an aide who all worked on
President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign were scheduled to appear Monday
for a preliminary hearing in Wisconsin on felony forgery charges related
to a fake elector scheme.
The Wisconsin case is moving forward even as others in the battleground
states of Michigan and Georgia have faltered. A special prosecutor last
year dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the
2020 election. Another case in Nevada is still alive.
The Wisconsin case was filed a year ago but has been tied up as the
Trump aides have fought, unsuccessfully so far, to have the charges
dismissed.
The hearing on Monday comes a week after Trump attorney Jim Troupis, one
of the three who were charged, tried unsuccessfully to get the judge to
step down in the case and have it moved to another county. Troupis, who
was joined by the other two defendants in his motion, alleged that the
judge did not write a previous order issued in August declining to
dismiss the case. Instead, he accused the father of the judge's law
clerk, who was a retired judge, of actually writing the opinion.
Troupis, who served one year as a judge in the same county where he was
charged, also alleged that all of the judges in Dane County are biased
against him and he can't get a fair trial.
Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland said he and a staff attorney alone
wrote the order. Hyland also said that Troupis presented no evidence to
back up his claims of bias and refused to step down or delay the
hearing.
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson asked the U.S. Department of Justice to
investigate the allegations.
The same judge will determine at Monday's hearing whether there's enough
evidence to proceed with the charges against the three.
The former Trump aides face 11 felony charges each in relation to their
roles in the 2020 fake elector scheme. In addition to Troupis, the other
defendants are Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who advised Trump’s
campaign; and Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in
2020.
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Jim Troupis reads a statement after his court appearance outside a
Dane County courtroom Dec. 12, 2024, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry
Gash, File)
The Wisconsin Department of Justice, headed by Democratic Attorney
General Josh Kaul, brought the felony forgery charges in 2024
alleging that the three defrauded the 10 Republican electors who
cast their ballots for Trump in 2020.
Prosecutors contend the three lied to the Republicans about how the
certificate they signed would be used as part of a plan to submit
paperwork to then-Vice President Mike Pence falsely claiming that
Trump had won the battleground state that year.
The complaint said a majority of the 10 Republicans told
investigators that they were needed to sign the elector certificate
indicating that Trump had won only to preserve his legal options if
a court changed the outcome of the election in Wisconsin.
A majority of the electors told investigators that they did not
believe their signatures on the elector certificate would be
submitted to Congress without a court ruling, the complaint said.
Also, a majority said they did not consent to having their
signatures presented as if Trump had won without such a court
ruling, the complaint said.
Federal prosecutors who investigated Trump’s conduct related to the
Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, said the fake electors scheme
originated in Wisconsin.
The Trump associates have argued that no crime took place. But the
judge in August rejected their arguments in allowing the case to
proceed to Monday's preliminary hearing.
Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020 but fought to have the defeat
overturned. He won the state in both 2016 and 2024.
The state charges against the Trump attorneys and aide are the only
ones in Wisconsin. None of the electors have been charged. The 10
Wisconsin electors, Chesebro and Troupis all settled a lawsuit that
was brought against them seeking damages.
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