Wisconsin judge refuses to step aside as requested by former Trump attorney

Wisconsin Judge Rejects Recusal Request in Trump Associates’ Fake Elector Case

A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday firmly rejected a recusal request from former President Donald Trump’s attorney who faces felony charges related to the 2020 election’s fake elector scheme in the crucial battleground state.

Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland denied the motion filed by Jim Troupis, who served as Trump’s Wisconsin attorney during the 2020 election. Troupis, alongside co-defendants Kenneth Chesebro and Mike Roman, had requested the judge step aside, claiming bias. Hyland also refused to cancel a scheduled preliminary hearing set for Monday.

“The Court is satisfied that no person other than the assigned staff attorney and I had a hand in drafting or editing the decision which this Court signed and entered,” Hyland wrote in his ruling. He added that he had “no personal animus or prejudice toward any of the litigants” and was confident in his ability to hear the case fairly.

Each defendant faces 11 felony charges related to forgery in connection with the scheme to submit false documentation claiming Trump had won Wisconsin’s electoral votes in 2020. The charges stem from their alleged roles in creating and attempting to deliver documents falsely asserting Trump had won Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral College votes to then-Vice President Mike Pence.

Troupis, who briefly served as a Dane County judge from 2015 to 2016, had argued that all judges in the county were biased against him. He specifically alleged that Hyland’s August order refusing to dismiss the case was actually written by retired Dane County Judge Frank Remington, whom Troupis claimed harbored “personal animus” toward him from their time together on the bench.

To support this claim, Troupis included an expert analysis comparing the writing style of the order to Remington’s and attached a November 25 letter claiming other attorneys had confirmed the similarities. Judge Hyland categorically rejected these arguments and dismissed the request to move the case to another county.

The Wisconsin case represents a significant chapter in the ongoing legal fallout from the 2020 election challenges. Federal prosecutors have previously noted that the fake electors scheme originated in Wisconsin before spreading to other states. The scheme involved Republicans in several battleground states signing documents falsely claiming to be the rightful electors despite Biden’s victory in those states.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice is prosecuting the case. None of the 10 Wisconsin Republican electors who participated in the scheme have been charged criminally, though they, along with Chesebro and Troupis, settled a civil lawsuit filed against them in 2023.

These criminal proceedings come amid a mixed legal landscape for similar cases nationwide. In September, a judge dismissed a comparable case in Michigan. Last year, a special prosecutor dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election results. More recently, prosecutors in Georgia dropped an election interference case, though a similar case continues in Nevada.

The timing of this case is particularly notable given Wisconsin’s continued status as a critical swing state in presidential politics. Trump won Wisconsin in both 2016 and 2024, while losing it in the contested 2020 election that sparked these legal challenges.

The defendants have consistently maintained that no crime took place, arguing their actions were legitimate alternate slates of electors in case court challenges to the election results succeeded. However, Judge Hyland previously rejected these arguments in August when he allowed the case to proceed.

The preliminary hearing scheduled for Monday represents the next significant step in this high-profile case that continues to highlight the deep legal and political divisions stemming from the 2020 election.