The 98-page Georgia election indictment charges former President Donald Trump with racketeering, violating oath of office, and other charges. Many familiar names were charged and mentioned throughout the document, including a well-known Wisconsinite, Brian Schimming.
“According to the indictment in Georgia, he was contacted by a Kenneth Chesebro, who apparently is one of the un-indicted co-conspirators in the case in Washington DC and a named co-conspirator in the RICO case in Georgia,” Wisconsin Attorney Lester Pines explained.
Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming is referenced twice in the lengthy document. However, he was not the chairman at the time.
“I don’t think that means anything for him. What this is, is a lengthy statement of facts of things that occurred to try to establish “look at all these people that Trump and the Trump team talked to. Look at the extent of what they were uh trying to do,” University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Ryan Owens said.
Owens explained that the chairman could have been covering his bases.
“If you look at the federal indictment on this January 6 business. They state pretty clearly in there, that there were a lot of people in these states who were legitimately uncertain as to whether their states were certified correctly and they wanted….they covered their legal basis um I don’t think we should criminalize that behavior.”
Chairman Schimming held a virtual press conference Tuesday morning to discuss President Joe Biden visiting Milwaukee. He declined to answer or acknowledge the question asked by our news team. In a statement sent later, he said the following:
"As stated previously, Republican electors met in accordance with state statutory guidelines, on the advice of attorneys, and with precedent, to preserve all legal options still pending before the courts. Had the courts ruled differently, the alternate electors would have been needed." — Chairman Brian Schimming
However, Attorney Pines points out the terms of the meetings.
“Remember these people met in secret, um and if they thought it was really a legitimate process, why didn’t they do it in the open?”
Although Chairman Schimming was not criminally charged in this indictment, attorney Pines believes there are more steps that need to be taken.
“It’s up to the Attorney General, or the District Attorney in Dane County to get to the bottom of whether or not there was criminal activity that was undertaken in the attempt to help install the person who lost the election as president.”
Attorney General Josh Kaul provided the following comment.
“It is fundamental to democracy that elections are decided by the will of the voters, and anyone who commits crimes to attempt to overturn the decision of the voters in an election should be held accountable. The allegations in the case in Georgia are of the utmost seriousness, and I am confident that the legal process will result in fair and just resolutions of the charges in that case.”
