Former Trump attorney Jim Troupis is seeking to quash a subpoena Dem AG Josh Kaul filed for “everything under the sun” related to the effort to provide a false slate of 2020 presidential electors, saying what he did was legal and public before he went through with it.
Troupis, who was charged in June with a felony count related to the effort, filed the motion to quash Kaul’s subpoena in late July. It had been under seal until this week. Private Citizen, a 501c3 that is raising money to help cover Troupis’ legal bills, criticized Kaul today over the subpoena. The group shared the motion with WisPolitics.
The motion argues everything Troupis did in pursuing the alternate slate of electors was legitimate and followed precedent. The filing also noted that the Department of Justice had advance notice that Republican electors planned to meet in the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, because Troupis included it in a footnote of a legal filing. According to the motion, DOJ had notified the Wisconsin Elections Commission of the GOP plan.
The subpoena is seeking all documents related to:
- the Dec. 14, 2020, meeting in the state Capitol;
- the planning and intent behind the meeting;
- the mailing or delivering of the false slate of electors;
- the attempted use of the false slate at the Jan. 6, 2021, joint session of Congress;
- potential or actual court decisions in cases contesting the 2020 presidential election.
Troupis’ motion argues Kaul’s application for the subpoena left out key facts that would undercut what it seeks.
That includes past efforts to present an alternate slate of electors, as was done with Hawaii’s votes in the 1960 presidential elections while those results were under recount.
It also pointed out a DOJ attorney, who wasn’t involved in the effort to prosecute Troupis and two other associates of Donald Trump, wrote a memo for the Elections Commission citing the Hawaii example in dismissing a complaint a progressive law firm filed with the agency over the effort.
It called the application for the subpoena a one-sided recitation of the facts.
“The document fails to grasp that a person cannot engage in completely lawful behavior,” the motion to quash argues.
Troupis, Kenneth Chesebro, Michael Roman have an initial appearance in Dane County Circuit Court scheduled for Dec. 12.
