To settle lawsuit, fake GOP electors acknowledge signatures were used in plot to overturn election
MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- In a lawsuit settlement announced Wednesday, the 10 Republicans who signed off as presidential electors for Donald Trump in 2020 acknowledged their actions were part of an effort to overturn President Joe Biden's win in Wisconsin.
The 10 false electors, which include the state GOP's former chair, Andrew Hitt, and Robert Spindell, who continues to serve as a Republican appointee on the Wisconsin Election Commission, had been sued in a civil case brought by the liberal firm, Law Forward.
As part of the case, the Republican electors also agreed to not serve as presidential electors or take part in any process related to submitting electoral votes in the 2024 presidential election or in any presidential election in which Trump is a candidate.
Those who signed off as fake electors also pledged to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice in any investigation related to the 2020 presidential election. In exchange, the firm and its associates will not bring any future legal action against the electors.
The Wisconsin Republicans have maintained they were only following their lawyers' guidance and submitted their own electoral votes in case a lawsuit seeking to toss absentee ballots in Milwaukee and Dane counties was somehow successful.
Text messages from Hitt have since played a key role in criminal investigations at the federal level and in the state of Georgia, which is prosecuting former Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro.
Court records contain text messages indicating Chesebro worked closely in Wisconsin with Brian Schimming, who has since become chairman of the state Republican Party.
Hitt told the House January 6 committee during a February 2022 deposition that Mark Jefferson, the state party's executive director, let him know Schimming was meeting with Chesebro.
Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who is facing 13 criminal counts in Georgia, joined the meeting via phone, according to Hitt.
Through testimony and text messages Hitt provided to the committee shows he and Jefferson were skeptical of the plan, but ultimately participated.
Hitt texted Jefferson, “These guys are up to no good and it's gonna fail miserably.”
In a statement Hitt released Wednesday, he noted he'd been working with the U.S. Department of Justice since May 2022. Hitt maintained he and the other GOP electors were "tricked and misled" and wouldn't have participated if they knew there were "ulterior reasons beyond preserving an ongoing legal strategy."
"I will not be supporting Trump in 2024," Hitt added. "We have serious problems facing this country and we need a President who will not repeat 2020 and will focus on tackling those difficult issues."
Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has not said whether he will pursue state charges. In previous public comments, Kaul has said he wanted to let federal investigations first run their course.