Multiple Michigan Republicans contacted by US House’s Jan. 6 committee

LANSING, Mich. — The U.S. House committee that’s investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has contacted at least five officials in Michigan, including three Republicans.

The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol appears to be exploring interactions between some Michigan Republicans and former President Donald Trump’s White House, said two sources who were contacted but declined to be identified because of the uncertain and ongoing nature of the probe.

It’s unclear exactly how many Michigan officials have received requests from the Democrat-led committee or how many individuals have agreed to interviews with lawyers from the committee. One key GOP officeholder, Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, won’t say whether he was approached by the panel.

The fact the panel is reaching out to Michigan political figures raises the likelihood Trump supporters’ efforts to undermine the battleground state’s election will be an aspect of the committee’s high-profile investigation.

In August, the committee sought communications referring to the election between White House officials and a group of three Michigan Republicans from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. The only current officeholder in the group was Shirkey, R-Clarklake, the top lawmaker in the state Senate. The other two were former House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, and then-Wayne County Canvasser Monica Palmer.

“Not going to comment at this time,” Shirkey’s spokeswoman, Abby Mitch, said Monday when asked whether the senator had been contacted by the select committee for an interview.

Shirkey was among a group of seven Michigan Republicans who traveled to meet with Trump in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 20, 2020, 17 days after the election, and as the then-president was making unproven claims the election had been rigged.

In a statement after the gathering, Shirkey and Chatfield suggested they used the meeting to focus on COVID-19 relief and not Michigan’s election results. But the day after the meeting, Trump responded to a social media post from Chatfield, saying, “Massive voter fraud will be shown!”

Trump and his supporters continue to assert that Michigan’s election was somehow stolen from him. But Democrat Joe Biden won the state by 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points, a result that’s been upheld by dozens of audits, a series of court rulings and an investigation by the GOP-controlled state Senate Oversight Committee.

Palmer, the Wayne County canvasser who initially declined to certify the results of the election on Nov. 17, 2020, but then changed course, has also been contacted by the U.S. House select committee, she said Monday.

Her attorney, Michael Schwartz, said a short discussion with one lawyer from the committee took place months ago and the conversation “wasn’t of note.”

Palmer received a call on her way out of the canvassers meeting on Nov. 17, 2020, from Trump. She previously summarized the contents of the call with Trump as “Thank you for your service. I’m glad you’re safe. Have a good night.”

On Monday, Schwartz said he didn’t remember if the call with Trump was discussed with the lawyer for the committee.

In addition to at least three Republican officials, the U.S. House committee asked questions on Nov. 30 of Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and staff about the 2020 election and “events leading up to Jan. 6,” according to Benson’s spokeswoman, Tracy Wimmer.

CNN previously reported the interview with Benson and another with Chris Thomas, the state’s former elections director who advised the City of Detroit in 2020. Detroit, a Democratic stronghold, became a hotbed for unproven claims of voter fraud.

Thomas confirmed Monday that he had been interviewed by the committee. The discussion focused on what transpired at the TCF Center, where Detroit’s absentee ballots were counted in November 2020.

In the weeks after the election, Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani criticized the treatment of poll challengers at the TCF Center and even said his client would have won Michigan without the votes cast in Wayne County, where Detroit is located.

During a press conference on Nov. 19, 2020, at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington,Giuliani said the Trump campaign had identified 300,000 “illegitimate ballots” in Michigan — without providing evidence.

“These ballots were all cast basically in Detroit that Biden won 80-20,” Giuliani said. “So you see it changes the result of the election in Michigan, if you take out Wayne County.”

The U.S. House voted in June to form the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. The panel’s purpose is to investigate the “facts, circumstances and causes” related to the insurrection and the peaceful transfer of power.

The committee’s efforts have included examining strategies Trump and his supporters used for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which could be a topic that spurs questions of Michigan officials.

On Jan. 4, two days before the U.S. House and Senate were to certify and count the official votes of presidential electors, 11 Michigan Republican senators sent a letter to Congress, asking national leaders to “pursue every available option” to examine claims of wrongdoing in the election.

That letter was one of two versions of the GOP lawmakers’ request of Congress posted on social media on Jan. 5. In one version, described as a draft that was accidentally released publicly, the lawmakers asked Congress to “temporarily delay certification in the name of national unity.”

Many Republicans have accused the select committee of being politically motivated. The panel includes seven Democrats and two GOP members, U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who have been critical of Trump.

Last week, Trump said people “being persecuted” by the committee should “should simply tell the truth.”

Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ron Weiser and Co-Chairwoman Meshawn Maddock have not been contacted by the Jan. 6 committee, state GOP spokesman Gustavo Portela said on Dec. 16.