From being a shadowy figure behind a disconcerting plot to become the headline of national news, Matthew DePerno has indeed come a long way. Tuesday marked a milestone in DePerno’s political journey, albeit a starkly ignominious one. Michigan prosecutors arraigned and charged this principal architect behind an alleged plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Michigan, making his efforts to help former President Donald Trump’s false claims of victory all the more nefarious.
A previous contender for state attorney general in the 2022 Republican race, DePerno is now facing four serious felony charges. The charges have emerged from an exhaustive yearlong investigation into the scheme by D.J. Hilson, a special prosecutor in Michigan. The accusations range from illicit possession of a voting machine to scheming unauthorized access to a computer or computer system.
State Rep. Daire Rendon (R) also finds himself in the legal crosshairs, facing charges of conspiracy to commit undue possession of a voting machine and false pretenses.
The plot unraveled by Michigan’s attorney general’s office last year painted DePerno as a key player in a ploy, involving several Trump allies. The group allegedly managed to lay their hands on voting machines and then examined them in sequestered hotel rooms and Airbnb rentals. They scoured the machines for so-called “evidence” of election fraud, only to return them weeks later, tampered with and tainted.
The twisted narrative of fraudulent voting machines is a well-worn trope in Trump’s circles, employed to stoke unrest in crucial swing states like Michigan and Georgia. These lies fueled efforts to unlawfully secure voting machines, all in a wild goose chase for election inconsistencies that simply didn’t exist.
Although DePerno’s attorney has come forward to deny any wrongdoing on his client’s part, Michigan’s legal machinery has not let up. An independent citizen’s grand jury approved the charges against DePerno and Rendon. The prosecutor’s office has ominously hinted that additional charges against other conspirators in the plot are forthcoming.
As Dana Nessel, the current state attorney general, quite aptly summed up, these allegations represent an extraordinary and concerted attempt to undermine U.S. democracy. “The lies espoused by attorneys involved in this matter, and those who worked in concert with them across the nation, wreaked havoc and sowed distrust within our democratic institutions and processes,” Nessel said.
The plot thickens as these charges against DePerno and his associates coincided with the Department of Justice charging Trump himself for his grand scheme to reverse the 2020 election outcome and his role in the infamous January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. The stage is set for justice to be served, and the world watches with bated breath.
