(Headline USA) Michigan Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel called for a special prosecutor to investigate her Republican opponent this week for his role in questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Nessel claimed in a petition filed to the Michigan Prosecuting Attorneys Coordinating Council that her opponent, Matthew DePerno, and two staff members were part of a scheme to obtain voting machines used in the 2020 election and investigate whether they had been tampered. Nessel said her office has been investigating the matter for months but can’t any longer because of the “conflict of interest.”
“When this investigation began there was not a conflict of interest. However, during the course of the investigation, facts were developed that DePerno was one of the prime instigators of the conspiracy,” the petition said.
DePerno has been a vocal critic of the 2020 election’s results but denied that he was a part of a “conspiracy” to overturn President Joe Biden’s win.
“This is a complete absurdity that shows the tactics of the institutional left,” DePerno’s team tweeted. “Matt DePerno looks forward to defeating her and bringing back order to this office in November.”
Statement from DePerno for Michigan Campaign on Dana Nessel’s Political Witch Hunt pic.twitter.com/XGuOZK7Rlt
— Matthew DePerno for Michigan AG (@deperno4mi) August 8, 2022
Nessel claimed DePerno was present at an Oakland County hotel room some time in early 2021 when tabulators were tampered. Under Michigan law, it is a felony to “obtain undue possession of a voting machine used in an election,” she said.
DePerno’s campaign said Nessel’s allegations are just a “desperate” attempt to win reelection in November.
“Dana Nessel has a history of targeting and persecuting her political enemies,” DePerno’s campaign manager Tyson Shepard said in a statement.
“At the same time she has refused to investigate or prosecute any crime involving Democrats, including the deaths resulting from the nursing home COVID scandal.”
DePerno led a November 2020 lawsuit against Antrim County over an election night error in which votes for former President Donald Trump were switched to Biden. He argued that what happened in Antrim County pointed to a larger “technical manipulation” of voting machines used to defeat Trump.
