Pro-Trump Attorney Working for Election Deniers Indicted

A Michigan lawyer accused of illegally accessing voting machines following the 2020 election said she has been indicted.

Stefanie Lambert is one of nine people who allegedly tampered with voting tabulators to prove that the results of the election were rigged and that then-President Donald Trump and his supporters did not embellish claims of election fraud.

“My attorney has been informed that I have been indicted by [Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson], the special prosecutor in Michigan, working at the request of [Attorney General] Dana Nessel,” Lambert said Wednesday on the Conservative Daily podcast.

Newsweek reached out to Hilson’s office via phone for comment.

Court records show that Hilson convened a secret grand jury to review evidence, according to Bridge Michigan. He told the outlet on Thursday morning that he could neither confirm nor deny the existence of a grand jury or any indictments because state law prohibits such disclosures until defendants are in custody.

Lambert said she couldn’t talk about charges against any others, adding that she received no legal paperwork regarding her case and future proceedings.

“D.J. Hilson misrepresented important statutory and constitutional law and failed to advise the court and grand jury of the applicable law, and misrepresented the law to the court and the jury in order to obtain this indictment,” she said.

When asked by one of the two podcast hosts if it was part of a novel case against her, she replied, “It’s worse than that.”

“Nobody, including myself, did anything illegal,” she said. “We did not violate any laws.”

A spokesperson for Nessel’s office told Newsweek that because Hilson’s office is handling the investigation, neither Nessel nor her office can comment on the Lambert indictment.

Another person being investigated is Matthew DePerno, a state attorney who ran for state attorney general in 2022 but lost to Nessel, the incumbent. To avoid a conflict of interest after DePerno’s bid for office, Hilson was appointed as special prosecutor.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson referred a complaint to Nessel’s office and the Michigan State Police in February 2022, requesting an investigation into concerns of an unnamed third party illegally accessing election equipment, a felony under Michigan law.

Initially, according to the complaint, “inappropriate access to tabulation machines and data drives” was discovered in one Michigan township and one county. Following the referral, and with assistance from the state police, it was determined that multiple people allegedly gained unauthorized access and compromised tabulators in additional locations between March 11, 2021, and late June 2021. All tabulators were seized by authorities as evidence and decommissioned for use in future elections.

“Protecting the integrity and security of our elections, especially from those who use lies and misinformation to deceive Michigan voters, is a critical component of defending democracy in this moment,” Benson said in a statement at the time.

“Michigan law is clear about the security threats that emerge when anyone gains unauthorized access to our election machines or technology, and I will have no tolerance for those who seek to illegally tamper with our voting equipment,” she added.

In a petition to appoint a special prosecutor last year, Nessel’s office said that all five seized tabulators were allegedly taken by suspects to hotels and/or Airbnb’s in Oakland County, where they were reportedly broken into and the equipment was “tested.”

Lambert, along with DePerno and former Michigan Representative Daire Rendon, allegedly orchestrated a plan to get and inspect the machines.

Nessel announced the arrests of 16 Michigan residents last month related to a false electors scheme, also in association with the 2020 election. They were the first such arrests anywhere in the U.S. related to fake electors.

Newsweek reached out to Lambert, DePerno and Benson’s office via email for comment.