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Michigan Lawmaker Who Peddled Trump's Election Lies Introduces Bill That Would Fine 'Fact Checkers'

Collin Gossel
May. 13, 2021
State Representative Matt Maddock/Facebook

Matt Maddock, a Republican state Congressman from Michigan, is well known for his refusal to accept the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election.

Like others in the GOP, Maddock's never questioned the legitimacy of the results of his own election.

Maddock and his wife, the co-chair of the Michigan GOP, even organized multiple busloads of people to participate in the January 6 insurrection.

Obviously, provable facts aren't a high priority for Maddock and fact checkers have been a constant annoyance for him.

Retaliating against those who point out when he is lying, Maddock recently introduced the Fact Checker Registration Act.

It would require all fact checkers in Michigan to register with the Secretary of State and "insure themselves with $1 million fidelity bonds."

In a proud post about his new bill, Maddock wrote to fact checkers:

"Don't be wrong, don't be sloppy, and you better be right."

According to the bill, any fact checker could be sued by any party for "any wrongful conduct that is a violation" of state law and would be subject to a "$1,000 fine per day for each day the violation continued."


Maddock commented his bill was written because "people and businesses are being unfairly targeted and deplatformed and canceled because fact checkers deem them 'false'."

He said:

"But is there any accountability when a fact-checker gets it wrong? There isn't. Sloppy fact checkers like Snopes destroy lives, destroy business, destroy politicians and there is no penalty when they get it wrong."

Maddock failed to cite any instances in which Snopes or any other fact checker had been wrong.



On the subject of what qualifies a person as a "fact checker," Maddock told Huffpost in a text message:

"I don't think anyone knows how many fact checkers are doing business in Michigan but we will find out!"



Michigan Democrats denounced Maddock's law.

They pointed out it was an obvious violation of the first amendment and did nothing to address public figures who continuously lie.



Michigan Democrats called for the censure and removal of Maddock.

They cited his "continued attempts at undermining democracy by fomenting election conspiracy theories and assisting with the heinous attack on the U.S. Capitol."


It's unclear whether or not Maddock's bill will gain support in the Michigan House, but even if passed it would likely be vetoed by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.