Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that her office would not pursue an appeal of the 54-A District Court’s failure to bind over to circuit court the 15 defendants who faced criminal charges for their alleged participation as a false slate of electors during the 2020 presidential election.

Following the Court’s September 9, 2025, ruling, the Michigan Department of Attorney General was afforded a 21-day window to pursue an appeal by legal right, and until March 9, 2026, to file an application for leave to appeal, if it chose to pursue an appeal of the ruling.

Additionally, the Department on Monday released a thorough report documenting a timeline of the prosecution, the allegations and charges against each defendant, supporting evidence exhibited across three sets of preliminary examinations, legal analysis of the Court’s ruling, and an explanation of its decision not to pursue an appeal.

“My office did not reach this decision lightly, though after a thorough assessment of the resources and time required to pursue justice in these cases, the pace and difficulty with which various courts have dealt with criminal violations of election law, and our likelihood of success given stringent appellate review standards, I have decided not to pursue an appeal,” said Attorney General Nessel. “This decision does not reflect any change in my belief in each defendant’s culpability for their alleged crimes, nor do I feel it any less urgent that those who work to undermine our elections should face accountability. The President at the center of this conspiracy has returned to power, elections across the country are scheduled to commence in November, and most of the conspirators involved in the false electors plot nationally have never been brought to justice for their acts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. I stand by our work in Michigan to bring about justice in this matter and defend our democratic elections, and I am grateful for the efforts of the special agents and prosecutors in my office who brought this case before the Court.”

In January of 2022, the Michigan Department of Attorney General referred the matter of Michigan’s false slate of electors to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Michigan. Following months of review by federal authorities investigating 2020 election interference plots without any ensuing criminal charges, and new information exhibited by The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Attorney General Nessel resumed her own investigation of the Michigan false electors plot in January of 2023. In July 2023, Attorney General Nessel charged 16 Michigan residents each with eight felony violations of state law for their alleged actions in Donald Trump’s criminal conspiracy to interfere with the lawful transfer of power and the certification of electoral votes following the 2020 presidential election. Charges against one defendant were eventually dismissed per the terms of a cooperation agreement entered between the defendant and the Department of Attorney General.

The defendants were alleged to have met in the basement of the Michigan Republican Party headquarters on December 14th, 2020, and knowingly signed their names to multiple copies of a false certificate of votes, stating that they were “the duly elected and qualified electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America for the State of Michigan,” each knowing they were not the duly elected and qualified electors, with the hope and belief that Michigan’s electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election would be awarded the candidate of their choosing instead of the candidate that Michigan voters chose.

These false documents were then transmitted to the United States Senate and National Archives in a coordinated effort to award the state’s electoral votes to Donald Trump and Mike Pence, in place of the candidates actually elected by the people of Michigan. The false slate conspiracy, in Michigan and elsewhere, undermined the public’s faith in the integrity of our elections and violated the spirit and letter of the law.

On September 9, 2025, the 54-A District Court in Lansing dismissed the criminal charges filed against each of the 15 defendants following preliminary examination. This constitutes neither a finding of guilt nor of innocence, though all defendants remain presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. Monday’s announcement concludes the state prosecution of these defendants.

Read the AG's entire report attached below.