The process is the punishment.
Nobody in the state of Michigan has weaponized that lawfare tactic with more ruthless tenacity than Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel.
Nessel, who entered office on a war footing in 2018, has repeatedly and systemically punished random, average Michigan residents for disregarding the pernicious and unconstitutional Covid emergency mandates while playing softball with left-wing activists. Her dismissal of charges against violent Free Palestine activists at U-M and the shelving of a criminal referral of an organization with ties to her wife are two cases in point.
But Nessel’s blunt-force partisan lawfare has become sloppy lately, and it finally bit her in the ass.
In July 2023, Nessel brought forth charges against defendants who were accused of using a false certificate of ascertainment in a scheme to hand Michigan’s electoral votes to Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
After two years of pretrial, probable cause, and preliminary hearings—including a stunning hearing on April 2024, when Michigan special agent Howard Shock claimed, without evidence, that Donald Trump was a co-conspirator in the case—District Court Judge Kristen Simmons, a Whitmer appointee, dismissed the indictments last week citing a lack of proof of criminal intent.
Simmons took a shot at Nessel that elicited laughter from the gallery about the absurd notion that the electors intended to commit a crime, saying, “I don’t know of anyone holding a press conference after they’ve committed a fraud.”
Nessel posted a ham-fisted video response where she expressed “disappointment” in Judge Simmons and doubled down on “her belief” that a crime was committed.
The ruling was met with jubilee by Republicans across the state and the nation, but lost in discourse was the human toll. The punishment of the process.
Kathy Berden is a former Republican National Committee delegate who was named as the main defendant in the case.
“I lost my husband to cancer when this case started, and I’m also a caregiver to another family member,” she says. “This has been a terrible trauma in my life. I lost my husband and something else deeply close to me.”
Berden speaks vaguely about that other loss, understood to be her family house and farm, sold off to pay her legal expenses, but she grew emotional and tearful when sharing how damaging the lawfare was to her personally, saying, “It’s still not over. I still have to deal with the civil lawsuit. I may never see the end of this.”
Although deeply aggrieved toward Dana Nessel, Berden was optimistic for the future and was resolute in her actions.
“I did nothing wrong and have no regrets,” she says. “I’m confident the nation is on the right course and believe America’s future is bright”
“Are you okay?” I ask, hearing her trembling voice as she spoke of her own plight and her thoughts on the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which she admitted was distracting her in the moment. She pauses briefly before she saying in a brave voice, “I’m okay. I’m doing alright. I’m still here.”
Michigan Enjoyer briefly spoke with Stanley Grot, the current Shelby Township city clerk who seemed primed for a continued legal battle with the attorney general.
“This isn’t over for me. Nessel might appeal this, and the civil case is looming,” Grot said. “I’ve been instructed not to speak on this matter. I’ll be interested in talking with you down the road, but for now I have to be careful and silent.”
Grot and Berden, in addition to the rest of the defendants, have civil suits filed against them by three of the Democrat electors. Those cases have yet to have their day in court. There are questions of standing and harm to be grappled with, and an attorney I spoke with familiar with those cases said that “due to the number of defendants and witnesses involved, those cases could take years.”
Undeterred and ready for that fight is Hank Choate, one of the 15 defendants and a Jackson-based farmer. Choate became active in Republican politics in 2010 and is well respected in his field of occupation, being named Michigan State University’s 2016 Dairy Farmer of the Year and Michigan Farm Bureau’s Volunteer of the Year for 2022.
“I’m deeply concerned about the youth of this country and specifically in Michigan,” he says. “My concern is so deep, I took an active role in Republican party politics because I saw my grandkids and others young Americans losing out on opportunities.”
Choate has an unbreaking resolve in regard to the indictments against him and claims he lost no sleep about the entire saga.
“My only worry was who I’d choose to defend me against the state’s charges. I was confident we’d have the charges dismiss or win the case at trial. My concern was for the others.”
Choate worries about Berden. “She lost the most in this. Her husband, her land, she lost what was most personal to her,” he says with quiet voice, the one moment when his powerful demeanor seemed to break.
More heartbreaking was the revelation that one of the defendants, John Haggard, died after learning of the judges dismissal. Choate stated he and another elector told Haggard of the dismissal just before he went into heart surgery. “Immediately after the hearing, we contacted him before his operation. Early the next morning, we learned he never woke back up.”
Choate has weathered the lawfare with the zeal of a challenger and was the rock some of the other defendants leaned on for support.
“I was personally unbothered, but the impact seemed to cause more stress for my family worrying about me,” he says.
Choate was direct when speaking about the attorney general: “Nessel did achieve a certain success with her aggressive handling of this. She sent a message to Republicans, warning them: This is the punishment.”
His interpretation of the events around the dismissal hung on the notion Nessel had made several incompetent errors in her case, which he refrained from detailing. “If this case had gone to trial, Nessel might have been in trouble,” he says. “There were problems in that case our team of defense attorneys were ready to pounce on. Judge Simmons may have done Nessel a favor dismissing the indictments.”
Choate mentioned the civil cases only in passing, with an air of unconcern and with a long eye on the future. “The only thing that matters right now is the concern for our next generation of young Americans. I believe the best thing we can do is take a lesson from Charlie Kirk: Talk to young Americans and each other, listen to them, and have a conversation.”
Lawfare is a fact of life for Michigan Republicans these days, but Choate was defiant: “I’ll be damned if I ever give up, I will never give up.”
Jay Murray is a writer for Michigan Enjoyer and has been a Metro Detroit-based professional investigator for 22 years. Follow him on X @Stainless31.
