Michigan SoS candidate says opponent Benson should be in jail, won’t say whether she should be executed

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told NBC News during an interview last week that former President Donald Trump “called on me to be arrested and tried for treason, potentially executed” during a White House meeting.

Benson said she learned of the remark from an unnamed source familiar with the meeting.

“It was surreal,” she said.

The experience amplified her already heightened sense of anxiety and stress at that time, “because it showed there was no bottom to how far he [Trump] and his supporters were willing to stoop to overturn or discredit a legitimate election.”

Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich disputed Benson’s claims. “I have it on good authority that Secretary Benson knowingly lied throughout her interview with NBC News,” he told NBC.

As secretary of state, Benson is Michigan’s chief elections officer. She’s faced a barrage of threats and harassment since certifying Biden’s win over Trump in the state the 2020 election.

In one incident in December 2020, dozens of protestors gathered outside Benson’s home, as she and her 4-year-old son finished putting up Christmas decorations, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy released a joint statement at the time, saying the protestors were “terrorizing” Benson’s family. They noted at least one protestor had shouted “you’re murderers’” within earshot of her child’s bedroom.

Among the Trump acolytes calling for Benson’s arrest is her presumed challenger in the general election, Kristina Karamo. Her campaign did not respond to a request to comment on whether Benson committed treason or should be executed.

In addition to using her podcast, It’s Solid Food, to platform her virulently anti-LGBTQ+ views, Karamo took the opportunity during one episode to go after Benson, NBC News reported.

“The secretary of state is the one who should be under investigation,” Karamo said in one episode. “She should be going to jail.”

A community college teacher, Karamo rose to prominence as a Detroit poll watcher and, subsequently, an election challenger with numerous appearances on conservative talk shows and at Trump rallies.

She, like many Trump endorsed candidates, is running so she can “fight to make sure that elections are decided by legal votes.”

Her “About” page says Karamo is leading a research team investigating the Office of the Secretary of State over supposed election system failures and “governmental pathologies.”

Benson told NBC, “The Big Lie is not just spreading, but it’s deepening its hold on the American people.”