Jan. 6 committee docs indicate five Michigan legislators agreed to support fake elector plan

Michigan remains center stage in documents released by the now-defunct Jan. 6, 2021, committee.

While it had already been reported that Michigan legislators had been approached in December 2020 by the campaign of former president Donald Trump seeking their support for a scheme to put forward alternate electors, documents from the committee this week indicate that five of them agreed.

The five Republicans — Sens. Jon Bumstead (R-Newaygo), Rick Outman (R-Six Lakes) and Roger Victory (R-Husonville), along with former House members Sue Allor (R-Wolverine) and Daire Rendon (Lake City) —were all reported to have said yes, while former Rep. Mary Whiteford (R-Casco Twp.) was listed as a “maybe.”

State officials indicate a criminal investigation is underway into Sen. Bumstead

That’s according to a spreadsheet of answers provided to the committee by Trump campaign staffer Angela McCallum, who was subpoenaed to testify.

According to the spreadsheet, Bumstead said “there is a lot of support and interest. Would be supportive of any actions we take,” while Outman expressed support for the fake elector plan, but wanted “to see the evidence of fraud. A bit unfamiliar with the process and what appointing electors looks like.” 

Neither legislator has responded to requests for comment.

The plan, as detailed by both state and federal investigations, involved a slate of 16 fake Republican electors who fraudulently submitted a false certificate at the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, when the Electoral College met to certify the state’s election results. President Joe Biden won all 16 of Michigan’s electoral votes.

McCallum, who said she made the calls from a Philadelphia hotel room, also provided the committee a script she used when calling lawmakers in Georgia, similar to that used in Michigan.

“You have the power to reclaim your authority to send a slate of Electors that will support President Trump and Vice President Pence,” it stated. “When there is a resolution to appoint electors for Trump, can the president count on you to join in support?”

McCallum reportedly told investigators that she didn’t write the script, nor know its intended meaning.

“I would assume that the script is referring to an alternate slate of electors,” said McCallum. “But I don’t know beyond that.”

Also released this week was the transcript of attorney Ian Northon’s interview. 

Former Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) had named Northon as one of those who had been pressuring him to illegally appoint the fake electors.

Northon told investigators that his conversations with Shirkey had been on behalf of several clients of his in the Legislature at the time: Rendon and former Reps. Beth Griffin (R-Paw Paw) and Julie Alexander (R-Hanover).

“They were people who wanted their colleagues in the House to do more,” Northon told investigators. “And so they wanted to go back into session at the State House — the people’s House, they kept calling it — and get them to do more, meaning, you know, start an investigation, hold hearings, and start asking questions of people …”

Northon also said he had been surprised when Shirkey eventually released a statement that there was nothing the Michigan Senate could legally do to affect the certification of Biden’s win.

“I read that statement later that day,” said Northon “ I don’t remember hearing it right when he put it out, but up until that point, I was having conversations with Senator Shirkey, including in his office a few days before, back and forth by phone and text, on behalf of my clients, again, trying to get him to do more. And then that’s inconsistent with what he was telling me, but — but then he issued that press release. And I don’t know why he did that. I haven’t spoken with him about why he did that, but I did see that press release, which is somewhat a little different than my earlier conversations with him.”

The latest revelations from committee documents follow news this week that former Michigan Republican Party Chair Laura Cox had called a plan by the fake electors to hide in the Capitol building in Lansing and then try and cast their votes as the legitimate electors “a hair-brained idea,” that was “insane and inappropriate.”