Lansing — Michigan state Rep. Matt Maddock, a Republican and ally of Donald Trump, says Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson “will be prosecuted and convicted” if the former president wins another term in the White House this fall.
However, Maddock, who received Trump’s endorsement in 2022 for the state House, didn’t identify what specific crimes Benson had committed, and instead, pointed to a series of election practices — some of which Benson wasn’t directly involved in — as violations.
Maddock sent out his initial social media post on the subject Monday night. It came two days after Trump claimed, without providing details to support his accusations, that there was “rampant cheating” in the 2020 presidential election and individuals who cheated “will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, which will include long-term prison sentences.”
In the November 2022 election — occurring after Trump began making false claims that the 2020 race had been stolen from him because of widespread fraud that have never been proven — Michigan voters chose to give Benson another four-year term as secretary of state.
Benson, the former dean of Wayne State University’s law school, defeated Republican Kristina Karamo by 14 percentage points, 56%-42%, in 2022. Karamo never conceded that she lost.
More: Trump’s rhetoric on elections turns ominous as voting nears in the presidential race
Asked about Maddock’s comments, Benson’s spokeswoman Angela Benander said when Trump makes “vitriolic, baseless threats against election officials who are simply doing their jobs, this is the kind of false rhetoric it inspires.”
“The secretary’s commitment — and the responsibility of every election official in the nation — is to rise above the noise and focus on continuing to ensure our elections are fair, secure, accessible and that the results are an accurate reflection of the will of the people,” Benander said. “No amount of lies, delusions or threats will distract us from that purpose.”
The Nov. 5 presidential election is less than two months away. Voters will decide whether Trump or Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, the current vice president, will lead the country for the next four years.
More: The Harris-Trump debate becomes the 2024 election’s latest landmark event
In a series of tweets over Monday and Tuesday, Maddock said Trump will win the upcoming election and a “new and improved” U.S. Department of Justice “will prosecute Benson and many others for the crimes they committed while rigging elections.”
“Benson will be prosecuted and convicted for the 20 election laws she broke in 2020,” Maddock said.
Maddock posted a list of 23 election-related actions he believes represented violations, but he didn’t cite specific laws.
Many of the allegations appeared to be focused on the alleged actions of local clerks who directly oversee vote counting across the state of Michigan, and not Benson herself.
Among the violations that Maddock alleged but that didn’t appear to be because of Benson’s actions were “removal of poll challengers on Election Day,” “removal of poll inspectors on Election Day” and “failure to match ballot number with absentee ballot registration.”
Another violation alleged by Maddock was “counting ballots after 8 p.m. deadline.”
As secretary of state, Benson doesn’t count ballots, and there’s no such 8 p.m. deadline, said Chris Thomas, who served as Michigan’s elections director for more than 30 years under Republican and Democratic secretaries of state.
Likewise, Maddock accused Benson of accepting ballots from the “criminally insane/incarcerated” and accepting ballots from “those registered in other states.” Thomas said as secretary of state, Benson, isn’t the person who accepts ballots; local clerks collect and tally ballots.
Another allegation made by Maddock was that Benson was somehow involved in “counting over votes through adjudication.” As secretary of state, Benson doesn’t make decisions about individual ballots, Thomas said.
Maddock’s comments amounted to unnecessary hyperbole, Thomas said.
Maddock was first elected to the state House in 2018. He is the president of A-1 Bail Bonds.
In 2021, Trump said Matt Maddock had his “complete and total endorsement” tor the state House. “We need leadership in Michigan who will investigate and document the 2020 voter fraud, the crime of the century,” Trump added.
Maddock’s wife, former Michigan Republican Party Co-Chairwoman Meshawn Maddock, is currently facing felony forgery charges, brought by Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel, for being one of 16 Trump supporters who signed a certificate falsely claiming he had won the state’s 16 electoral votes in 2020.
Meshawn Maddock has pleaded not guilty. The false certificates were used by Trump’s campaign in an attempt to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
The Maddocks have been longtime allies to Trump, visiting both Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. In the past, Meshawn Maddock has repeatedly talked about phone calls she’s been on with Trump himself.
Michigan state Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, said he didn’t believe Democratic legislators had gotten “ahead of the justice system” in Meshawn Maddock’s prosecution the way Matt Maddock was vowing that Benson “will be prosecuted.”
People should take the comments Maddock and Trump made about election officials “incredibly seriously,” Moss said.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66e08e8810164516bf84935fc78a2f52&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.detroitnews.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2F2024%2F09%2F10%2Fmichigan-donald-trump-jocelyn-benson-matt-maddock-election-fraud-prosecution-threat%2F75158850007%2F&c=2221589835434790255&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-09-10 06:56:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
