'Tangled web': Experts see election interference case turned on head with immunity deal
A private investigator hired by a group of MAGA loyalists in Michigan has been granted immunity in the state's election interference case, court transcripts revealed.
Former FBI agent Peter Strzok and legal analyst Allison Gill spoke about the new information on their weekly podcast, "Cleanup on Aisle 45," noting that the development could be enough to nail two Donald Trump loyalists charged in the case.
“When elected officials and their proxies use their positions to promote baseless conspiracies, show blatant disregard for voter privacy, and break the law in the process, it undermines the very essence of the democratic process,” Atty. Gen. Dana Nessel said in a statement announcing last month's indictment of lawyer Stefanie Lambert and former Adams Township clerk Stephanie Scott.
They were accused of taking voting data and giving it to digital forensics investigator Ben Cotton. They asked Cotton to find inaccuracies in the data that could prove that Trump won more votes and possibly flip the state, the charges state.
Cotton was also dispatched to look at data in Arizona and Georgia.
"He's part of the crazy-times carnival in Arizona?" Gill asked.
"Right, the gang that couldn't shoot straight," Strzok characterized.
Cotton has now been given immunity which means in federal cases, and in Michigan, he can no longer plead the Fifth and must give details about the women on the stand.
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Cotton "was present Wednesday morning inside the building as preliminary examinations for attorney" Lambert and clerk Scott were scheduled to begin, the Detroit News reported,
At one point, a Michigan Attorney General prosecutor pointed to Cotton and announced to the judge, "He's here. He's in this building right now."
The case was paused after the judge faced a collection of motions, including one to dismiss it entirely.
"This is a big tangled web," said Gill about the case.
During the hearing, Lambert and Scott's lawyer, Dan Hartman, said that Cotton was just an "investigator," the court transcript said.
The next hearing in the case is on July 11th, the same day Trump will be sentenced in New York after his conviction in the hush money case.
Given that Cotton has been granted immunity, he must reveal the information he knows about what Scott and Lambert did. He has not yet been granted immunity in other cases.