Trump calls out Michigan elections in primetime address

By Elyse Apel
The Center Square

President Donald Trump made the accusation of election fraud in Michigan during a primetime address Thursday night.

Trump referenced potential election crimes during the 2020 election in Muskegon, a town in western Michigan.

“Among the disclosures tonight are FBI files detailing evidence of alleged fraud by a large-scale voter registration operation in Michigan in 2020,” Trump said. “It was pay, play, and cheat.”

Michigan was just one of five areas of election concern Trump highlighted. He announced the release of thousands of declassified documents related to the 2020 election.

The other weaknesses he brought attention to were illegal immigrants voting, concerns with electronic voting, attempts by members of the “deep state” to suppress election integrity concerns, and accusations of election interference by China.

Trump called the released documents surrounding China’s involvement in the 2020 election proof of the “largest compromise of election data in history,” adding that it led to “China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files.”

While Trump cited more than a dozen states where he says elections been compromised, Michigan received special attention. This isn’t the first time, as the president has been highlighting concerns with the state’s elections since the 2020 election – going so far as to suggest federalizing elections.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has previously called those attempts “blatantly unlawful.”

On Thursday night, the president cited a specific incident in Muskegon that led to the Michigan State Police raiding a Get Out The Vote group. That eventually led to the Federal Bureau of Investigation getting involved in 2023.

“They were just so concerned they couldn’t believe it,” Trump said. “They contacted the FBI in Detroit.”

According to Trump, the group’s staff admitted in the FBI documents to signing voter registration forms in other people’s names, submitting fraudulent information for people that did not exist, and receiving gift cards based on the number of applications they produced.

Trump claimed officials in the Biden administration then stalled the investigation into the “large-scale voter registration operation.”

“The FBI agents working on the case believe that crimes were committed, yet the Biden Department of Justice slow walked the investigation and killed it,” he said. “Tonight, I’m asking the FBI director to ensure that the matter is fully investigated, and to work with the Department of Justice to prosecute those responsible for any crimes.”

Michigan State Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Township, applauded Trump for bringing national attention the incident.

“I want to thank President Trump for highlighting the serious nature of this case,” DeBoyer said. “This was an attempt to defraud our elections system with thousands of bogus registration forms, and we need to prosecute these acts and provide clear deterrents when they occur.”

Michigan Democrats pushed back on Trump’s claims though.

“Michigan elections are safe and secure – any suggestion otherwise is designed to undermine our voters’ basic rights,” Whitmer said in a statement.

She called it a “conspiracy theory” that Michigan’s elections are compromised.

“The results of the 2020 election have been repeatedly reviewed and consistently upheld as accurate,” she said. “Conspiracy theories about the 2020 elections must come to an end. President Trump also made claims about Michigan intended to suggest our voting system is somehow rigged. It isn’t, and his claim has been debunked by experts time and time again.”

Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel also joined with Whitmer in rebuking Trump.

On the other side, Michigan State Rep. Rachelle Smit, R-Martin, said that state Republicans have long been concerned about election integrity in Michigan.

“Last night, President Trump said what Michigan Republicans have been saying for years; the damning allegations out of Muskegon surrounding the 2020 election must be thoroughly investigated and, if necessary, prosecuted,” Smit said. “Our democracy cannot survive without the guarantee of fair and secure elections. President Trump knows that, Michigan Republicans know that, and most of all, the American people know that. Democrats can call us crazy; they can throw a whiny fit and pretend like problems don’t exist, but Republicans will continue to champion the fair and secure stewardship of elections.”

Trump used his 25-minute address to call for election reforms and for the U.S. Congress to pass the Save America Act, which would require voter ID and curb mail-in ballots.