THOUSANDS of people have signed a petition calling for the expulsion from the ministry of a Lutheran pastor who has been named as a co-defendant, with Donald Trump, in the latest indictment relating to attempted electoral fraud.
The former President was charged with his fourth criminal indictment last week, the latest relating to an alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 election result in Georgia.
The Illinois church leader Stephen Cliffgard Lee, a former police chaplain and founder of Peace Officer Ministries, is charged with seeking to influence an election worker, Ruby Freeman, to make a false confession of electoral fraud. He faces five counts, in total, of influencing witnesses and conspiring to commit election fraud.
The petition asks the President of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, Matthew Harrison, to expel Mr Lee from the ordained ministry.
It reads: “The indictment says that Lee conspired with Trump associates to repeatedly badger and intimidate election worker Ruby Freeman — a key witness during the Congressional January 6 Committee hearings — pushing her to confess to election-related crimes that she did not commit.
“The orchestrated MAGA campaign against Freeman and her daughter led to death threats and racist taunts against both Black poll workers.
“There’s absolutely no reason for any denomination to let someone credibly accused of illegally undermining our democracy remain in a position of moral or spiritual leadership. Let’s show the Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod (LCMS) that a nationwide movement of Christians is calling for Lee’s immediate expulsion from ordination.”
By Wednesday morning, the petition had almost 15,000 signatures.
Mr Lee is one of 18 co-conspirators in the indictment, a list that includes Mr Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and others of his staff members and lawyers, as well as some Republican senators.
Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who has worked for Christian conservative organisations, has also been indicted for making false allegations of election fraud, promoting fake election schemes, and writing two legal memos that advised Vice-President Mike Pence to disregard legitimate votes.
The online petition is circulated by a group, Faithful America, opposed to Christian nationalism.
Mr Harrison has not responded to requests to comment on the petition.
On Wednesday evening, eight of the candidates for the Republican nomination took part in a debate. Mr Trump did not attend, however. Instead, he recorded an interview on Fox News, which was streamed on Twitter at the same time as the debate. He said: “You see the polls that have come out, and I’m leading by 50 and 60 points and some of them are at one and zero and two. And I’m saying, do I sit there for an hour or two hours or whatever it’s going to be and get harassed by people who shouldn’t even be running for president? I just felt it would be more appropriate not to do the debate.”
On Thursday, Mr Trump surrendered in Georgia, and was released from jail in Atlanta after paying a bond of $200,000 (£160,000). He later described the case as “a travesty of justice”.