A lawyer who supported Donald Trump's attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat was charged on Thursday with illegally accessing voting machines in Michigan, just hours before the former president was due to appear in a Washington court on criminal charges that he conspired to cling to power.
Stefanie Lambert Junttila, who along with other Trump allies tried to reverse Trump's defeat to Democratic President Joe Biden in Michigan, was charged with accessing, tampering with and undue possession of voting machines in the state, according to court records.
Lambert was the third person charged in Michigan this week after a special prosecutor in that state reviewed allegations that Trump allies illegally accessed voting machines after the 2020 election.
Two other Michigan Republicans, former Michigan attorney general candidate Matt DePerno and former state Representative Daire Rendon, made their initial court appearances on Tuesday in connection with the case.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel named all three last year in an investigation of a scheme to access voting tabulators. Nessel, a Democrat, defeated Trump-endorsed DePerno in her re-election bid last year.
In a call with reporters last week, Junttila called the case a "malicious prosecution."
The Michigan case is a separate prosecution from Trump's latest indictment.
Trump was appearing in court on Thursday, accused of leading a conspiracy built on lies to overturn the 2020 presidential election, culminating in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In a 45-page indictment on Tuesday, Special Counsel Jack Smith accused Trump and some allies of promoting false claims that the election was rigged, pressuring state and federal officials to alter the results, and assembling fake slates of electors to try to wrest electoral votes from Biden.
It is the third time Trump has been indicted this year.
