A crowd of armed individuals swarmed outside the home of Michigan top election official on Saturday night, verbally attacking her with President Donald Trump’s lies about election fraud.
“As my four-year-old son and I were finishing up decorating the house for Christmas on Saturday night, and he was about to sit down and watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas, dozens of armed individuals stood outside my home shouting obscenities and chanting into bullhorns in the dark of night,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s said in a statement.
Without directly mentioning Trump or his legal team, who have been on a crusade to falsely claim President-elect Joe Biden’s decisive electoral win was caused by voter fraud, Benson asserted that the incident was an “extension of the noise and clouded efforts to spread false information about the security and accuracy of our elections that we’ve all endured in the month since the polls closed on November 3.”
“….those unhappy with the results of this election have perpetuated an unprecedented, dangerous, egregious campaign erode the public’s confidence in the results of one of the most secure, accessible and transparent elections in our state’s history,” the state official said.
Benson’s announcement also struck a defiant note.
“Nothing about the incessant and graphic threats made outside my home, or those that flood my social media accounts, will deter me, my team, or the more than 1,600 election administrators across the state of Michigan from doing our jobs,” she said.
HuffPost editor Philip Lewis tweeted a video of some of the demonstrators:
“Dozens of armed individuals” showed up to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s home last night, shouting “Stop The Steal!” pic.twitter.com/rZhPK5hbsv
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) December 7, 2020
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy released a statement condemning the individuals.
“Anyone can air legitimate grievances to Secretary Benson’s office through civil and democratic means, but terrorizing children and families at their own homes is not activism,” they said. “This disturbing behavior masquerading as protest should be called out for what it is and roundly condemned by citizens and public officials alike.”
Trump and his legal team have targeted Michigan in their anti-democratic attempts to undermine the election that saw the President definitively lose to his Democratic rival. Trump has been falsely insisting that he was the true winner of the race by parroting lies about “illegal” votes in swing states, including Michigan, and filing bogus lawsuits that have gone nowhere.
