Tate Resolution asks DOJ to Investigate 11 Sitting Republican Representatives

 

LANSING, Mich., July 20, 2022 — House Democrats introduced a resolution today urging the federal Department of Justice, including the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, to investigate 11 Republican lawmakers for the crime of seditious conspiracy. The resolution cites former President Trump’s coordinated seven-state “false electors” plot, including the 16 false electors in Michigan who attempted to enter the state Capitol with five sitting Republican lawmakers and an additional six Republican representatives who further attempted to overturn the 2020 election results in the courts, and asserts these representatives “acted contrary to federal law and to their oath of office.”

“These were crimes, plain and simple, committed by our public servants and in the halls of our own state Capitol. Each of these Republican lawmakers knew what they were doing, working to overturn the free and fair presidential election, to keep the corrupt former president in power,” said state Representative Joe Tate (D-Detroit), who introduced the resolution and additionally served as the clerk for the certification of the election in the Senate chamber at the Michigan State Capitol in December 2020. “Eleven sitting members of the House of Representatives conspired against democracy, the people of Michigan, and the peaceful transition of power that has upheld our republic and our way of life since the days of George Washington.”

In their efforts to delay or overthrow the election results, the resolution states these representatives worked to “… undermine this basic tenet of democracy” and that “through their efforts to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election and delay the transition of power, they ‘conspire[d] to overthrow … the Government of the United States.’”

“The plain facts of these crimes have been public for months — they attempted this coup in broad daylight and in clear view of the press and the whole world to see, we must demand these 11 representatives face the accountability they have so far eluded,” said House Democratic Leader Donna Lasinski (D-Scio Township). “The people of Michigan deserve to have the sanctity of their votes defended, and that means prosecuting those who betrayed the voters and their state in an attempt to steal an election. We have another election just around the corner, and absent true accountability, we’re on a road toward ‘fool us twice.’”

The state representatives named in the resolution are:

  • Rep. Gary Eisen (R-St. Clair Township)
  • Rep. John Reilly (R-Oakland Township)
  • Rep. Julie Alexander (R-Hanover)
  • Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford)
  • Rep. Daire Rendon (R-Lake City)
  • Rep. Beth Griffin (R-Mattawan)
  • Rep. Michele Hoitenga (R-Manton)
  • Rep. Brad Paquette (R-Niles)
  • Rep. Rodney Wakeman (R-Freeland)
  • Rep. Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock)
  • Rep. Jack O’Malley (R-Lake Ann)