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A Minnesota lawyer who “pushed” voters to sign legal challenges to the November election against five Congressional Democrats has been fined several thousand dollars.
Attorney Susan Shogren Smith, who was a member of the Minnesota Election Integrity Team (MNEIT), was fined $ 10,000 on Friday after a judge found out she had tricked people into making them sign complaints as complainants, The pioneering press reported.
“Susan Shogren Smith… committed fraud against this court and, more importantly, committed fraud against these plaintiffs,” Ramsey District Chief Justice Leonardo Castro said, according to the newspaper.
Amid ongoing electoral disputes last year, Ms Shogren Smith has reportedly filed five complaints in Ramsey County District Court, naming Secretary of State Steve Simon and the Democratic candidates who won their congressional races as defendants .
The court challenges were reportedly filed on behalf of 14 separate voters and at least four of those involved were unaware they were participating, The pioneering press said.
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Mr Castro reportedly ruled in favor of the defendants on December 18 and closed the cases, but in February, Republican activist Corinne Braun realized that she had been unwittingly involved in one of the lawsuits after searching for her name on the system. online court records of the state.
“To my horror, I saw that I had chased Steve Simon and Ilhan Omar. It was a surreal moment for me, ”she said, seemingly likening the moment to her car break-in.
Ms Braun had unwittingly signed an affidavit in an anonymous email asking her to add her name to a list of disgruntled voters.
The activist said she completed the form and signed her name before forwarding the email to around 5,000 people on her mailing list.
According to Ms. Shogren Smith, the affidavit agreed that she “will join other Minnesota voters in contesting the results of the Minnesota election.”
Ms Braun said she believed she was doing the same thing as “going online and signing a petition” and did not understand the implications. She said, “As a layman, an affidavit doesn’t mean anything.”
MNEIT defines itself as “a group of volunteers and legislators dedicated to fighting for electoral integrity in Minnesota.”
The group tried to prevent the state from certifying its election results amid false claims by Donald Trump that the election was “stolen” by fraud.
A number of federal and state officials have confirmed that they have found no evidence that votes in the 2020 presidential election were compromised on a large scale.
Their website encourages “anyone who supports challenging these elections to end electoral fraud in the MN and who wishes to be listed as a ‘Voter Contesting Election'” to complete an Eligible MN Voter Affidavit.
Ms. Braun and two other involuntary plaintiffs were ordered to pay the defendants $ 3,873 at the end of the case, and MNEIT ended up paying the court costs.
Ms Shogren Smith allegedly admitted that she never spoke with the complainants or informed them of the outcome of the case or of the fact that they had been ordered to pay the large sum.
The lawyer said she believed another person from MNEIT would inform the complainants of these details.
“I absolutely believed these conversations were taking place with these complainants,” she said.
The newspaper reported that Ms Braun’s name and that of two other plaintiffs should be removed from the case against Ms Omar.
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