Trump’s Howell event was a ‘blatant’ violation of Michigan campaign law, Dem lawyer says

BY JON KING, MICHIGAN ADVANCE

MICHIGAN—An event Tuesday labeled as a press conference by former President Donald Trump was instead a “blatant” violation of state election law, which ironically also featured a former state legislator who helped pass the law making it illegal.

That’s the conclusion of election attorney Mark Brewer of the Goodman Acker law firm, who’s a former Michigan Democratic Party chair. He told the Michigan Advance that everything about the event held at the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office in Howell was in direct violation of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act.

Billed as a “crime and safety” press conference by the Trump campaign, the gathering had the distinctive features of a political rally, including signs that said “Michigan is Trump Country” and “Make America Safe Again,” while several official patrol vehicles were parked behind Trump and approximately 75 invited guests, mostly local Republican officials and donors, cheered on his remarks attacking his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

While local, state and national press had all gathered for the press conference, Trump only took one question before leaving.

“I’ve never seen anything just so blatant and repeated,” said Brewer, the former head of the Michigan Democratic Party. “MCL 169.257 expressly prohibits the use of any public resources for political campaign purposes and it gives a long list; vehicles, buildings, any public resources. I mean, they held it in a public building, which was obviously cleaned up for Trump, and then they staged the vehicles behind him. And then you have uniformed officers there, as well. Those are all public resources. And he can call it a press conference, but he was clearly advocating for his election as president. That was a campaign event, and what the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department did was illegal.”

Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy told the Advance prior to the event that it was not political, but instead “simply a press conference” and opportunity to have someone vying for the highest office in the land speak on the topic of law enforcement. 

That theme was echoed by Livingston County Administrator Nathan Burd, who attended the event, and spoke to the Advance afterward.

“I don’t have a concern about that, but others may,” said Burd. “We’ll see what happens. But, again, it’s an opportunity to have somebody who obviously has strong feelings on law enforcement to come meet and see facilities of law enforcement and meet with people on the ground who are doing the work.”

However, Brewer said that whatever one wants to label it, the violation of the statute is clear.

“That’s not an answer to the legal problem,” he said. “Sure, if Trump wanted to speak outside in a public place, in a park or on a span of grass where anybody could speak. But staging what they did [Tuesday] in a public building with those officers, with those vehicles, that’s clearly illegal.”

While there have been questions whether the visit to Howell, and others in Michigan featuring law enforcement officers, violated the federal Hatch Act, which limits the political activities of federal employees, experts have said that doesn’t apply, as Trump is not an employee of the federal government.

Brewer said that as for the potential state campaign law violations, any registered voter could bring such a charge, which would go to the Bureau of Elections and the Department of State. A knowing violation of the statute is a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment for an individual held liable of up to a year in jail and/or a fine up to $1,000. If the violator is not an individual, the fine could go as high as $20,000 or equal to the amount of the improper contribution or expenditure.

On Thursday afternoon, Angela Benander, spokesperson for Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, told the Advance in an email that the Bureau of Elections has received two complaints against the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office and Murphy regarding alleged violations of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act. The bureau will investigate and Benander said she can’t provide any additional comment until the probe concludes and makes a determination.

Brewer noted that former US Rep. Mike Rogers (R-White Lake), who is running against US Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) for Michigan’s open US Senate seat, was present and spoke prior to Trump.

“It’s more than irony, it’s hypocrisy,” said Brewer, referring to the fact that as a state Senator in 1999, Rogers voted for legislation that specifically added federal elections to fall under MCL 169.257.

“I mean, he was part of a violation of a law that he voted for when he was in the state Legislature,” said Brewer.

A request for comment was made to the Rogers campaign, but has yet to be returned.

Brewer did say that criticism leveled at Livingston County for closing down their court facility, which is adjacent to the sheriff’s office, early on Tuesday are misguided.

“I think when you have the president of the United States appearing, you have to take security precautions, so some of those closings may have been legitimate,” said Brewer. “But that does not excuse the illegal use of public resources to stage a Trump campaign event.”

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This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.