A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday refused to remove himself from a felony forgery case tied to the 2020 election, despite demands from former President Donald Trump’s onetime attorney and two other former Trump aides.
The judge also declined to cancel a preliminary hearing scheduled for Monday for the former Trump lawyer — who previously served as a judge in the same county where he is now being prosecuted — along with two other former Trump associates.
All three men face 11 felony counts each in connection with their alleged roles in Wisconsin’s 2020 fake elector scheme. The defendants are: Jim Troupis, Trump’s attorney in Wisconsin during the 2020 election; Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who advised Trump’s campaign; and Mike Roman, who oversaw Election Day operations for Trump in 2020.
In a motion filed Monday, Troupis, joined by Chesebro and Roman, argued that every judge in Dane County is biased against him. Troupis served as a judge in the county from 2015 to 2016.
He further claimed that Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland, who is presiding over the case, sought assistance from a retired judge when drafting an August order that refused to dismiss the charges.
Troupis alleged that the retired judge, who he says “carries personal animus” toward him from their time on the bench together, actually authored the order. He requested an evidentiary hearing to be held in a different county.
Troupis submitted an expert analysis comparing the writing style of the August order to that of retired Dane County Judge Frank Remington. His attorney also included a Nov. 25 letter sent to Hyland, asserting that other lawyers had told him Remington wrote the August order because its style matched Remington’s work in a prior civil case they litigated before him.
Hyland rejected the motion and the request to transfer the case elsewhere.
“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.
He also stated that he harbors “no personal animus or prejudice toward any of the litigants” and is confident he can handle the case fairly. On that basis, he refused to step aside.
Hyland further wrote that Troupis had offered no evidence to support his sweeping claim that every other judge in the county is prejudiced against him and therefore unable to provide a fair hearing.
Troupis’ attorney, Joe Bugni, did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Prosecutors allege that Troupis, Chesebro and Roman used forgery in an attempt to defraud each of the 10 Republican electors who cast ballots for Trump in 2020, as part of a broader effort to submit documents falsely asserting that Trump had won Wisconsin’s 10 Electoral College votes.
Trump lost Wisconsin in the 2020 election but tried to overturn the result. He had previously carried the state in 2016 and again in 2024.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is bringing the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
These are the only state charges filed in Wisconsin related to the fake elector effort. None of the 10 Republican electors themselves have been charged. In 2023, the electors, along with Chesebro and Troupis, reached a settlement in a civil lawsuit filed against them.
Federal prosecutors investigating Trump’s actions around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol have said the fake elector plan originated in Wisconsin.
According to the Wisconsin complaint, Troupis, Chesebro and Roman drafted a document falsely declaring that Trump had secured Wisconsin’s Electoral College votes, and then attempted to transmit that document to then–Vice President Mike Pence.
The defendants maintain that no crime was committed. However, in August, Hyland rejected their legal arguments and allowed the case to move forward.
A similar criminal case in Michigan was dismissed by a judge in September. Last year, a special prosecutor dropped a federal case alleging that Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. A Georgia election interference case was dropped by prosecutors earlier last month, while another related case remains active in Nevada.
