Ron Johnson campaign hires Troupis law firm that represented Donald Trump in attempt to throw out 2020 ballots in Wisconsin
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson's campaign has retained the Cross Plains-based law firm that represented former President Donald Trump in the failed effort to throw out hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots in Wisconsin and reverse the results of the 2020 election.
The firm is headed by attorney James Troupis, who was allegedly at the center of the plot to recognize so-called fake electors in what was the last-ditch push by the former president and his allies to stymie President Joe Biden's election on Jan. 6, 2021, the day of the U.S. Capitol insurrection.
The Johnson campaign made about $20,000 in payments to the Troupis firm since July.
NBC News was the first to report the payments.
A spokeswoman for Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes criticized the payments on Monday. Barnes, a Democrat, is challenging Johnson, a second-term Republican, next month.
"Ron Johnson is hell-bent on holding onto power through any means possible so that he can continue delivering tax breaks to his wealthiest donors, follow through on his plan to put Social Security on the chopping block, and rip away women’s reproductive rights," spokeswoman Maddy McDaniel said.
But Ben Voelkel, a top aide to Johnson, said there was nothing unusual about the payments.
"As anyone who works on campaigns in this state knows, close elections in Wisconsin are the rule, not the exception," Voelkel said. "It would be reckless to be unprepared for any possible circumstance — and this campaign has been preparing for months for just that.”
Troupis did not respond immediately to an email or call.
More:Wisconsin U.S. Senate election updates: Diane Hendricks gives $9.4 million to pro-Johnson Super PAC
According to filings, the first $13,287 to Troupis' firm was for "legal consulting" on July 15. Johnson's campaign then paid Troupis' office $7,000 on Aug. 18 for "recount: legal consulting."
Troupis once gave $1,000 to Johnson's campaign more than a decade ago.
Troupis, a former Dane County Circuit Judge, unsuccessfully sought to throw out hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots in 2020 when he was hired by Trump to oversee recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties following Trump’s defeat in Wisconsin.
Since then, investigations by a U.S. House committee convened to probe the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol have revealed Troupis was at the center of a plot to put in place Republican electors in states Trump was trying to overturn election results and was the first in the state to receive a memo pushing the idea from Boston-area attorney Kenneth Chesebro.
Johnson also acknowledged this summer that on Jan. 6, 2021, hours before the attack, he coordinated with Troupis to get to then-Vice President Mike Pence a document Troupis described as regarding “Wisconsin electors.”
Earlier this month, Johnson downplayed his role in the incident.
"The entire episode lasted about an hour," Johnson said on Oct. 4 in Milwaukee. "I got a text from the president's lawyer (Troupis) who asked me if we could deliver something through the vice president and if I could I have a staff member handle it."
Johnson said he did not know what information was being handed over.
"I had no idea that there were even an alternate slate of electors," he said. "I had no knowledge of it, no involvement in it. And you can't even call it participation. I wrote a couple of texts. I was involved for a few seconds. There's nothing to this story."
As Trump’s attorney during the 2020 recounts, Troupis and his brother Chris Troupis, sought to throw out all in-person absentee ballots, all mailed-in absentee ballots if applications for them could not be tracked down, all absentee ballots submitted by those who claimed to be indefinitely confined, and all ballots where clerks filled in missing address information for witnesses to absentee ballots.
Federal Election Commission records show Troupis' firm was paid $471,994 from Trump's campaign and the Make America Great Again PAC in late 2020 and early 2021 for the firm's work on the recount.
The effort laid the groundwork for unsuccessful lawsuits Trump and his allies filed ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection to overturn the results of Wisconsin’s election, and for successful litigation since. Clerks are no longer allowed to fill in missing witness address information on absentee ballot envelopes.
Over the years, Troupis has been a regular donor to Republican and conservative candidates and causes in Wisconsin, having given nearly $30,000 to them over the past 30 years.
Johnson officials noted that all major campaigns hire law firms. They noted that Barnes' campaign has paid out $88,964 to the Elias Law Group since December. Marc Elias, the head of the firm, has been involved in a number of recounts for Democratic campaigns over the years.