Three men who served as attorneys or aides to President Donald Trump during the 2020 campaign entered not guilty pleas Tuesday in a Wisconsin courtroom, facing felony forgery charges connected to an effort to reverse Trump’s election loss in that state.
Jim Troupis, a former judge who served as Trump’s Wisconsin campaign attorney, Mike Roman, who oversaw Trump’s Election Day operations in 2020, and Ken Chesebro, a one-time legal adviser to Trump, all entered their pleas in Dane County Circuit Court. Troupis, who resides in the Madison area, was present in the courtroom, while Roman and Chesebro joined the proceedings remotely via Zoom.
The Wisconsin case is pressing ahead even as comparable legal efforts in Michigan and Georgia have run into trouble. A special prosecutor previously dropped a federal case accusing Trump of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results. A related case in Nevada, however, remains active.
The fake elector scheme — in which Republican electors in contested states submitted paperwork to Congress falsely claiming Trump had won their states despite losing to Joe Biden — is said to have originated in Wisconsin.
Troupis, Roman, and Chesebro maintain that they broke no laws and were simply preserving legal options in the event a court determined Trump had legitimately won Wisconsin. Prosecutors, however, allege the three men deceived the 10 Wisconsin Republican electors who cast their votes for Trump in 2020.
According to prosecutors, the defendants misled the electors about how the certificate they signed would actually be used — specifically, as part of a plan to send paperwork to then-Vice President Mike Pence falsely asserting Trump had carried the state. Court documents indicate that most of the electors told investigators they did not believe their signatures would be forwarded to Congress without a court order, and that a majority said they never agreed to have their signatures used as though Trump had won without such a ruling.
Tuesday’s arraignment came roughly two years and two weeks after Wisconsin Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul first filed charges against the trio. Each of the three defendants faces 11 felony forgery counts, with each charge carrying a potential penalty of up to six years behind bars and a $10,000 fine.
Both Troupis and Roman filed legal motions requesting that the trial be moved from Dane County — which encompasses Madison — to neighboring Jefferson County, citing concerns that negative media coverage had compromised the potential jury pool. Trump carried Jefferson County by 15 percentage points in 2020, while he lost Dane County by nearly 53 points.
“This case is headed to trial,” wrote Joe Bugni, Troupis’s attorney, in the motion. “No question. Neither side is going to blink. And when we get to trial, Troupis has the right to a fair and impartial jury.”
Troupis and Roman also argued that one of the 11 felony counts against them should be dismissed, citing a pardon issued by Trump covering federal crimes related to their involvement in the fake elector effort. They contend that because casting electoral votes is a federal process, the state cannot prosecute them on that particular count and that Trump’s pardon therefore applies. Trump also pardoned Chesebro.
The presiding judge said Tuesday that he would establish a schedule for hearing arguments on those motions.
The state-level charges against the three men are the only ones filed in Wisconsin in connection with the scheme. None of the 10 Wisconsin electors have faced criminal charges. The electors, along with Chesebro and Troupis, previously settled a civil lawsuit brought by Democrats seeking financial damages.
