Wisconsin
Wisconsin fake elector tells ‘60 Minutes’ he was afraid of Trump supporters
Andrew Hitt discusses the ‘fake elector’ scheme with ’60 Minutes’
Andrew Hitt, the former chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, spoke with Anderson Cooper of “60 Minutes” about the fake elector scheme he took part in following Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.
Courtesy of ’60 Minutes’
MADISON – The former chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party in a new interview claims he sent Congress paperwork he signed posing as an elector for Donald Trump following the former president’s 2020 election loss out of fear for his safety from the candidate’s supporters.
Andrew Hitt, who was chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin during the 2020 election, offered the explanation for his participation in a scheme designed by Trump and his allies to stay in power after losing reelection during an episode of CBS’ “60 Minutes” that will air Sunday evening.
In a clip provided to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by “60 Minutes,” Hitt says he was scared of what Trump supporters would do to him or his family if he did not sign the paperwork and courts later overturned President Joe Biden’s victory in Wisconsin.
“… If I didn’t do that, and the court did throw out those votes, it would have been solely my fault that Trump wouldn’t have won Wisconsin,” Hitt told “60 Minutes” correspondent Anderson Cooper. “Can you imagine the repercussions on myself, my family if it was me, Andrew Hitt, who prevented Donald Trump from winning Wisconsin?”
But by the time Hitt and nine other Republicans met in the state Capitol to sign the paperwork claiming to be electors for Trump, the state Supreme Court had already confirmed Biden’s win.
Biden beat Trump by about 21,000 votes in Wisconsin. Trump sought recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties, which confirmed Biden’s win. Trump sued and the state Supreme Court upheld the results on a 4-3 vote on Dec. 14, 2020.
Less than an hour later, Democrats met in the state Capitol to cast the state’s 10 electoral votes for Biden.
At the same time, the fake Trump electors gathered in another part of the Capitol to fill out the paperwork claiming Trump had won. They submitted their filings to Congress, the National Archives, a federal judge and then-Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette.
At the time, the fake electors said they held the meeting to ensure the state’s electoral votes were cast for Trump if a court later determined he was the true winner of the state.
Andrew Hitt tells Anderson Cooper ‘it was not a safe time’
When asked by Cooper if he was scared of Trump supporters in Wisconsin, Hitt said “it was not a safe time.”
“If my lawyer is right, and the whole reason Trump loses Wisconsin is because of me, I would be scared to death,” Hitt said.
During a February 2022 deposition with the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Hitt testified he was concerned about his physical safety while signing the paperwork.
“There was just a general concern about — about safety. And … how we were going to keep everybody safe if somebody wanted to disrupt something or if there was a protest that would occur,” Hitt said, according to the deposition transcript.
“I also, throughout this time, got several phone calls to my office that my secretary relayed to me demanding to know my exact location … I never verified, but I got a lot of threatening emails, quite frankly, from both sides of the political aisle. And so it was a volatile time, and our electors were worried, and so was I.”
In text messages released as part of the final report from Jan. 6 committee, Hitt relayed concerns about the fake elector plan to the party’s executive director before the paperwork was signed.
“I am def concerned about their inquiry,” Hitt texted the state GOP’s executive director Mark Jefferson when he learned of the plot that followed Trump’s 2020 election loss. “I hope they are not planning on asking us to do anything like try and say we are only the proper electors.”
“These guys are up to no good and its (sic) gonna fail miserably,” he texted a colleague on Dec. 12, 2020, after receiving a message about discussing the fake elector plan with Trump attorney Rudy Guiliani.
In another exchange, Hitt said he would not side with Trump “if he goes after our guys,” referring to Trump’s criticism of Republican governors of Arizona and Georgia in the weeks following the 2020 presidential election.
Hitt also texted Jefferson, “Tomorrow is going to be wild,” after discussing which of three rooms in the Capitol to hide in with Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Bob Spindell to avoid media scrutiny of the papework signning because both Hitt and Spindell were public figures.
Republicans in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nevada also signed documents purporting to be electors. Republicans in New Mexico and Pennsylvania filled out paperwork saying they should be considered electors if courts found Trump had won their states.
Michigan’s attorney general filed felony charges in July against 16 Republicans in that state who acted as fake electors for Trump, accusing them of submitting false certificates that confirmed they were legitimate electors despite Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
Trump has been indicted over his actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection — charges that focus heavily on the fake elector strategy.
In Wisconsin, Attorney General Josh Kaul is reportedly investigating the fake Trump elector scheme but Kaul has not discussed the alleged probe nor confirmed its existence.
CNN reported in December that Kenneth Chesebro, a Wisconsin native and former campaign attorney for Trump, was helping investigators in at least four states, including Wisconsin, who are probing the scheme to overturn the 2020 election.
Hitt and the other false electors also recently settled a civil lawsuit filed by Biden’s real 2020 electors. As part of the settlement, the 10 Republicans acknowledged their actions were part of an attempt to overturn an election and agreed not to serve as electors for Trump in the future or participate in the transmission of such documents again, among other terms.
In the statement released by the false Trump electors, the Republicans wrote they met in the Wisconsin State Capitol to sign paperwork falsely claiming to be electors to be “in compliance with requests from the Trump campaign and Republican Party of Wisconsin.”
“The Elector Defendants took the foregoing action because they were told that it was necessary to preserve their electoral votes in the event a court challenge may later change the outcome of the election in Wisconsin. That document was then used as part of an attempt to improperly overturn the 2020 presidential election results,” the Republicans wrote.
Hitt also has said he believes the group of Republicans were tricked by the Trump campaign to participate in the scheme and pledged not to vote for Trump in 2024.
Lawrence Andrea of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
Residents can attend the July 16 meeting in Sheboygan or submit written comments by email to NOAA.
Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary has 36 shipwrecks
Discover the history, shipwrecks and impact of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, established to protect maritime heritage in Lake Michigan. This video was created by the Wochit AI tool.
Wochit
SHEBOYGAN – Residents can attend or comment on an upcoming meeting of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council scheduled for July 16 in Sheboygan.
The gathering will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Sheboygan County Museum, 3110 Erie Ave., according to a community announcement. Members of the public are invited to attend and observe discussions.
The agenda includes routine council business, updates from working groups, community reports and briefings from NOAA staff on sanctuary programs, research and upcoming events.
Public can provide comments during meeting
A public comment period is planned for about 7:50 p.m., giving attendees a chance to share feedback directly with council members.
Those unable to attend may submit written comments by email to jean.prevo@noaa.gov, according to the announcement.
Council shares updates on sanctuary programs
NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries will provide updates tied to the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, including research initiatives and community engagement efforts.
More information about the council and its activities is available online at sanctuaries.noaa.gov.
This story was created by reporter Nida Tazeen, NTazeen@usatodayco.com , with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.
Wisconsin
A Wisconsin family is suing Target after their 10-month-old died from swallowing a water bead
A Wisconsin family lost their ten-month-old daughter after she swallowed a water bead. They blame Target and the water bead manufacturer for her death.
This week, Taylor and Tyler Bethard filed a lawsuit against Target in Hennepin County, claiming that the company failed to warn them and other customers about the dangers of a water beads product that used to be sold exclusively at Target.
Water beads are marketed as toys that come with sensory kits or craft sets, but data shows the products are prone to injuring young children. The polymer material is extremely absorbent, allowing water beads – which are often colorful – to expand around 100 times their original size when they interact with water or liquid. This presents a hazard for kids; the United States Product Safety Commission states that between 2017 and 2022, there were 6,300 water bead-related ingestion injuries that required treatment from emergency departments across the country.
In 2023, a 10-month-old girl died. Her name is Esther “Jo” Bethard. According to court filings, Taylor Bethard found her daughter unresponsive in her crib on the morning of July 7, 2023, after she had suffered symptoms of a stomach illness overnight. Medical examiners told the family that her death was caused by swallowing a single water bead.
The Bethards had purchased a Chuckle and Roar water bead set in the spring of 2022 for Esther Jo’s older siblings, never intending for the infant to interact with the water beads.
Target and the Chuckle and Roar manufacturer, Buffalo Games LLC, mutually agreed to pull the product from the shelves in November of 2022. Court records show an email exchange between Buffalo Games and a product safety employee at Target where the manufacturer noted that while their water beads had met safety standards at the time, they wanted to “avoid any future unintended misuse of the product.”
That conversation was prompted after Buffalo Games was informed that an infant required surgery after ingesting a water bead from the Ultimate Water Beads kit. Target agreed to end sales, indicating that this would be classified as a “safety removal.”
The Bethard’s lawsuit alleges that Target clearly knew how dangerous these water beads could be, but failed to warn them or other customers. Target stopped selling the product about eight months before Esther Jo died. Daniel Mann, a personal injury attorney representing the Bethards in this case, said that Esther Jo would still be alive if Target had acted.
“With all this information Target didn’t do anything to reach out to the family or other consumers to let them know about this problem,” Mann said, “I think 10/10 people would say Target had a responsibility to do more than what they did, which was nothing.”
A spokesperson for Target said that they would not comment on ongoing litigation, but the company had already responded to an identical complaint filed by the Bethards in the State of New York. In 2025, the Bethards sued both Target and Buffalo Games in Erie County, N.Y., because that was where the manufacturer was based. In response to the lawsuit there, court filings show that Target denied the allegations that they knew of an extraordinary danger posed by the water beads and failed to notify customers.
The complaint was dismissed against Target in New York, Mann explained, due to jurisdiction. This lead to them refiling in Hennepin County this week.
In a statement to WCCO on the new legal action, a Target spokesperson said “We extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by this tragedy, and we worked closely with the manufacturer of the product at the time the incident occurred.”
Taylor Bethard, Esther Jo’s mother, has lead the charge to ban water beads entirely. Her efforts lead to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commision recalling the more than 52,000 Chuckle and Roar Ultimate Water Beads Activity Kits that were in circulation. The recall took effect in September of 2023. Target, Walmart and Amazon announced that they would stop marketing water beads to children.
Bethard is also working with Wisconsin U.S. State Senator Tammy Baldwin to establish federal legislation to permanently outlaw all water beads. This past spring, the CPSC established new legal guidelines that restrict the size of water beads to try to ensure high safety standards.
(WLUK) — Wisconsin State Patrol troopers are teaming up with truckers to better spot dangerous driving behaviors.
The annual Trooper in a Truck initiative kicks off next week in Wisconsin.
Troopers will ride along with with semitruck and bus drivers to use the higher vantage point to spot dangerous driving behaviors, especially near commercial motor vehicles.
Troopers will be looking for risky driving behaviors, including distracted driving, speeding, following too closely and seatbelt violations. When an officer identifies a violation from the truck or bus, they will radio to patrol cars in the area for appropriate enforcement action.
Drivers can expect to see Trooper in a Truck enforcement in the following areas:
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