Former Trump aides allege judicial misconduct in Wisconsin fake elector case

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – President Donald Trump’s former attorney in battleground Wisconsin alleged Monday that a judge presiding over his felony forgery case related to the 2020 election is guilty of misconduct and must step aside.

The attorney and two other former Trump associates charged in relation to their roles in the 2020 fake elector scheme asked that the preliminary hearing in their case set for Dec. 15 be postponed. They also asked that an evidentiary hearing be held by a judge in another county to examine the allegations of wrongdoing.

Details of the alleged misconduct were sealed by the court and not publicly available.

Jim Troupis, who was Trump’s attorney in Wisconsin in the 2020 election, filed the motion one week before he and two others were scheduled to appear for the preliminary hearing in Dane County Circuit Court.

The other two defendants joined Troupis in the motion. They are Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who advised the campaign, and Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in 2020.

They face 11 felony charges for allegedly using forgery in an attempt to defraud each of the 10 Republican electors who cast their ballots for Trump in 2020 as part of a plan to submit paperwork falsely claiming that the Republican had won the battleground state that year.

Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020 but fought to have the defeat overturned. He won the state in both 2016 and 2024.

Each of the 11 of the felony charges carries the same maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The case has moved slowly through the Wisconsin courts as the three initially tried to have the charges against them dismissed. Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland dismissed that motion in August. Troupis alleged on Monday that that decision was “the byproduct of misconduct.”

Troupis’ attorney, Joe Bugni, declined to comment when asked for more details about the alleged misconduct.

Hyland did not return a message left late Monday to his judicial office.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is prosecuting the case, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. According to Troupis’ filing, the state Justice Department objects to postponing the preliminary hearing.

Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, who is running for a third term, brought the charges last year.

In addition to vacating the order to dismiss, Troupis and the two other defendants asked that the preliminary hearing be canceled, all Dane County judges step aside and the entire case be moved to another county.

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 in 2023.

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 Wisconsin complaint details how Troupis, Chesebro and Roman created a document that falsely said Trump had won Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral College votes and then attempted to deliver the document to then-Vice President Mike Pence.

The Trump associates have argued that no crime took place. But the judge in August rejected their arguments in allowing the case to proceed.

A judge threw out a similar case in Michigan in September. And last year, a special prosecutor dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Cases related to alleged fake elector schemes remain in Nevada and Georgia but are not near the trial stage.