Wisconsin judge refuses to step aside as requested by former Trump attorney
MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday refused to step aside at the request of President Donald Trump’s former lawyer. serious forgery case regarding the 2020 elections in the battleground state.
The judge also rejected the request for annulment. Monday preliminary hearing For his former lawyer, who previously worked as a judge in the district where Trump is being tried, and for two other former Trump associates.
Three former Trump aides each face 11 felony charges related to their roles in the 2020 fraudulent election scheme. They are: Jim Troupis, who was Trump’s attorney in Wisconsin during the 2020 election; Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney advising Trump’s campaign; and Mike Roman, Trump’s 2020 Election Day operations director.
Joined by two other defendants, Troupis argued in a motion filed Monday that all judges in Dane County were biased against him. Troupis served as a judge for the county for one year, from 2015 to 2016.
He also claimed that the judge hearing his case, Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland, sought help from a retired judge in writing an August order denying dismissal of the case against him.
In his motion, Troupis argued that the retired judge, who “held personal hostility” towards Troupis during their time together on the bench, actually wrote the order. Troupis requested an evidentiary hearing be held in another county.
He included an expert analysis of his writing style, comparing the order to that of retired Dane County Judge Frank Remington. Troupis’ attorney also included a Nov. 25 letter he wrote to Hyland, alleging that other attorneys told him that Remington actually wrote the August ruling because his writing style matched Remington’s in a civil case they had litigated before him.
Hyland rejected those allegations and Troupis’ call to move the case to another county.
“The Court is satisfied that no person other than the appointed staff attorney and myself had any hand in the drafting or issuance of the order that this Court signed and entered,” Hyland wrote.
Hyland also wrote that she had “no personal animosity or prejudice toward any of the plaintiffs” and was pleased she was able to get a fair hearing in the case. He refused to step aside as requested.
Hyland also said Troupis presented no evidence to support his claim that every other judge in the country was biased against him and therefore unable to hear the case fairly.
Troupis’ attorney, Joe Bugni, did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Troupis, Chesebro and Roman each face 11 felony charges for allegedly using forgery to defraud each of the 10 Republican electors who voted for Trump in 2020 as part of a scheme to submit false paperwork to claim Republicans won the battleground state that year.
Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020 but fought to overturn the defeat. He won the state in both 2016 and 2024.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is prosecuting the case, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The state charges against Trump’s lawyers and aides are the only ones in Wisconsin. None of the voters were charged. 10 Wisconsin voters, Chesebro and Troupis settled a case It was filed against them in 2023.
Federal prosecutors investigating Trump’s behavior regarding January 6, 2021 US Capitol riotHe said the fake voter scheme originated in Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin complaint details how Troupis, Chesebro and Roman created a false document saying Trump had won 10 Electoral College votes in Wisconsin and then attempted to deliver the document to then-Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump’s associates argued that no crime had been committed. But the judge rejected the arguments in August, allowing the case to proceed.
A judge threw out Similar situation in Michigan In September. And last year a special prosecutor dropped a federal lawsuit He claims Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. A. Georgia election interference The case was dropped by prosecutors early last month, and a similar case is pending in Nevada.
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Associated Press writer Todd Richmond contributed to this report.
