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Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says she was harassed to keep Trump in office

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says protesters were trying to intimidate her by visiting her home Saturday night. She's seen here discussing the elections during a news conference Nov. 3.
Kent Nishimura
/
Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says protesters were trying to intimidate her by visiting her home Saturday night. She's seen here discussing the elections during a news conference Nov. 3.

Michigan’s top election official told the committee investigating the January 6th 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol she was personally harassed to keep Trump in office. Armed protesters surrounded Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson at her home in Detroit in the weeks following Election Day 2020. They arrived at night, and called her a “threat to democracy.” Benson told the panel she was frightened by the situation.

“Are they coming with guns? Are they going to attack my house? I’m in here with my kid. I’m trying to put him to bed. So that was the scariest moment, just not knowing was going to happen,” she said.

Congressional investigators say Trump’s focus on Michigan and Detroit election officials was part of his effort to subvert the will of voters. Michigan voters cast 150,000 more votes for President Biden than it did for Trump.

Eli Newman is assistant news director and editor. He works with the WKAR news and digital content teams to facilitate the creation of meaningful and thought-provoking multimedia news content for WKAR Public Media.