Michigan Attorney General conducts searches on Google and X as part of inquiry into 2020 phony electors case.
A never-before-seen set of warrants has provided prosecutors with access to additional emails from Chesebro, as well as his private messages on Twitter. The warrants, now public, show that Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is still collecting evidence, 9 months after she accused Michigan's fake electors of forgery and other offenses for declaring that Donald Trump won the 2020 election in the state.
One member of her team testified recently that the case will not go to trial until after the November election and that Trump is a co-conspirator in the investigation.
Michigan is among several states investigating false elector schemes. Just last week, Arizona prosecutors filed charges against the Trump electors and their supporters who tried to overturn the 2020 election results.
The newly discovered documents, obtained by CNN, reveal that Chesebro contacted several pro-Trump figures, asking if they would like to be present at the fake electors' plan on January 6, 2021. He proposed footing the bill for airfare and accommodation in DC's Trump Hotel for David Clarke, the ex-Milwaukee County Sheriff, Jim Hoft, the Gateway Pundit website owner, and others. However, there's no evidence that anyone accepted his offers.
These messages also demonstrate Chesebro's relentless pursuit of conservative media figures and right-wing personalities to support his theories on subverting the Electoral College process.
The search warrants for Google and X were served in March, following CNN's revelation that Chesebro had hidden some of his social media accounts from prosecutors during his cooperation session in 2021. Chesebro has not been charged in Michigan and has already pleaded guilty in Georgia's election interference case.
Chesebro's legal team chose not to contest the search warrants, stating that they had already given over most of the relevant materials to investigators.
"There's no legal jeopardy; we've been cooperating the whole time," said Chesebro's lawyer, Manny Arora, during a discussion on MSNBC. "...In order to be a good prosecutor, you want to make sure you get the search warrants to double-check us and ensure we've given them everything. I don't think it amounts to much."
Gaining Support
The direct messages exchanged between Chesebro and conservative media figures relay how, while advising the Trump campaign about the fake electors scheme, Chesebro was also trying to attain friendly media exposure by constantly pitching to right-wing radio hosts and commentators.
He proposed ideas for Gateway Pundit's coverage of the Congressional certification event to Jim Hoft, suggesting ways to portray Mike Pence's potential actions.
"It would be helpful to publicise that if Pence takes the power to settle disputes about the electoral votes on Jan. 6, he's merely doing what Jefferson did," Chesebro wrote on Dec. 27, 2020.
"Excellent!! Thanks," responded Hoft via the @GatewayPundit account.
On Dec. 29, Chesebro claimed to have secured a block of rooms at Trump International Hotel for Hoft, and invited him to stay for free.
Similar offers were extended to David Clarke and his wife, as well as to Wisconsin-based radio host Vicki McKenna and her husband.
Hoft informed Chesebro that he had already made arrangements for accommodation in DC. A lawyer for Hoft declined to comment for this story. McKenna did not respond to requests for comment.
Meeting with Investigators
When Chesebro spoke with Nessel's investigators in December, they inquired about his social media accounts. Aside from concealing his secret Twitter account, Chesebro claimed that he didn't use social media applications for sending or receiving private messages.
These statements are contradicted by the materials provided to investigators by X, which contain more than 160 sent messages and over 25 received messages in the timespan from 2014 to 2021, with the majority coinciding with the 2020 election aftermath.
During the closed-door discussion, an investigator questioned Chesebro about the social media platforms where people could "direct-message you, private-message you."
Chesebro responded, "The only messaging apps I've used - like for messages, right? I understand there's that capability - are iMessage." He also said, "I know there's direct message Twitter," but didn't admit using Twitter for private messaging.
Chesebro's attorney was unavailable for comment on the inconsistency.
In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Chesebro reached out to James Wigderson, an experienced Wisconsin political writer who operated a conservative news website. He aimed to stir up interest in allegations of irregularities in the state's outcome, according to records obtained by CNN.
"You can spare me this nonsense. Thanks," Wigderson responded to Chesebro, later saying, "I don't have time for conspiracy theories. Thank you for understanding."
Some details of this interaction have previously surfaced in The New York Times.
Chesebro also discretely contacted numerous other Wisconsin political pundits and legal experts, including those with whom he had butted heads on Twitter. Many chose to ignore his messages.
One legal professional Chesebro privately approached was Daniel Rodriguez, a fellowgraduate of Harvard Law School who now serves as a law professor at Northwestern University. On December 29, 2020, Chesebro sent Rodriguez a link to a lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign to reverse the Wisconsin results. Rodriguez reacted with "LOL."
"I'm not positive about this conversation," Rodriguez informed CNN via email, "but I believe my 'LOL' was due to the fact that this entire false electors lawsuit fiasco was, and is, absurd."
The legal action in Wisconsin, like many other Trump election challenges, ended in a court's rejection.
This story has been revised to include additional data.
CORRECTION: This story has been revised to correctly characterize Chesebro and Rodriguez's educational experiences.
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Source: edition.cnn.com
