Getting Away With Treason
Biden beat Trump in 2020 by just over 7 million votes and won 25 states to Trump’s 25. But Biden won the states with big populations like California and New York and Trump mostly won states where few people live like Wyoming and the Dakotas. So Biden won 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, a 74 vote gap. The fake electors scheme was meant to make up that gap.
Arizona- 11 electoral votes
Georgia- 16 electoral votes
Michigan- 16 electoral votes
Nevada- 6 electoral votes
New Mexico- 5 electoral votes
Pennsylvania- 20 electoral votes
Wisconsin- 10 electoral votes
Total- 84 electoral votes, a 10 vote cushion… you know, in case anything went wrong. Plenty went wrong— and in all 7 states.
Earlier today, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said the 10 fake Trump electors should be charged and held accountable. In response to a question from a reporter from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Evers said “There has to be accountability. What they did was wrong, and so I'm hoping somebody will pick up the banner here, because this has to happen.”
On Thursday, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul told reporters in Madison that he would “neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation” in Wisconsin but that “It’s critical that people who committed crimes with the intent of overturning the results of an election are held accountable.” These are Wisconsin's fake electors, none of whom have been arrested yet:
Robert Spindell, a Republican appointee to the Wisconsin Elections Commission and current chairman of the 4th Congressional District GOP.
Andrew Hitt, then-chairman of state Republican Party, now a partner at Michael Best Strategies.
Kelly Ruh, current chairwoman of the 8th Congressional District GOP.
Carol Brunner, former vice chairwoman of the 1st Congressional District GOP.
Scott Grabins, former chairman of the Dane County Republican Party.
Bill Feehan, current chairman of the 3rd Congressional District GOP.
Kathy Kiernan, current second vice chairwoman of the state Republican Party.
Darryl Carlson, former chairman of the 6th Congressional District GOP.
Pam Travis, former vice chairwoman of the 7th Congressional District GOP and former staffer for Sen. Ron Johnson’s 2022 reelection campaign.
Mary Buestrin, former national committeewoman for state Republican Party.
Earlier, Nick Robertson reported, in light of Señor Trumpanzee’s arraignment, the status of the fake electors in all 7 states. Let’s take the 6 others besides Wisconsin state by state:
Arizona
A group of 22 Arizona Republicans, including the Republican Party chair and multiple state legislature members, signed papers intending to cast false electoral college votes in December 2020. That paperwork is now the focus of both a federal and state investigation.
State Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) ratcheted up her investigation into the group in July, requesting records from involved figures. The investigation is in its early stages.
Figures surrounding the case also received federal subpoenas for information and communication, according to local media.
Georgia
On the day that Georgia certified its electoral results in favor of Biden, 16 Republicans— led by the state’s Republican Party chair— allegedly met in a secret meeting in the state capitol to discuss plans to send an alternate slate of votes to Washington. The group also signed paperwork making their plans official.
The scheme is central to prosecutor Fani Willis’ (D) state probe into attempts to overturn the 2020 election, which may result in an additional indictment for Trump.
At least eight of the fake electors have signed immunity deals with Willis’ office, offering to cooperate in exchange for not being prosecuted.
…The Georgia probe is the most significant of any state’s investigation into 2020 election meddling and is the only known case where Trump himself is a target of an investigation.
Michigan
A group of 16 Michigan Republicans was charged with crimes related to a fake electors scheme last month, concluding an investigation by state Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) which began again in January.
Nessel initially referred the charges to federal prosecutors in early 2022 but pursued a state case again after federal officials failed to pursue charges after a year.
The group met in the basement of the state Republican Party headquarters and signed documents claiming to be electoral college voters, prosecutors allege. Some of them later showed up at the state capitol and attempted to cast electoral college ballots.
Three of the state’s rightful electors filed a civil suit against the group of 16 in January, requesting $25,000 in damages claiming they suffered humiliation and harassment due to the group’s fake elector scheme.
The scheme is separate from another investigation into attempts to break into voting machines in Michigan. A former GOP attorney general candidate, a state legislator and a prominent Trump campaign lawyer were charged this week in that case.
Nevada
In the Silver State, a half dozen Republicans met in Carson City, Nevada, to organize their own fake elector scheme after the 2020 election. Among them was state GOP chair Michael McDonald, the focus of federal investigators in Nevada.
McDonald’s phone was seized and searched by the FBI in 2022 and he and another elector testified to both the House Jan. 6 committee and for special counsel Jack Smith’s federal investigation.
Both McDonald and the second fake elector, Nevada Republican Party official Jim DeGraffenreid, were given “limited immunity” due to their testimony.
The Nevada scheme was allegedly headed by former state attorney general and GOP Senate candidate Adam Laxalt.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) declined to pursue a criminal investigation of McDonald, Laxalt and others.
New Mexico
New Mexico was a last-minute addition to fake elector plans, Smith’s 45-page indictment alleges. Despite being a state that Biden won comfortably— by about 100,000 votes or nearly 10 percent— the state GOP sent its own electors to vote for Trump, citing pending litigation in other states.
The Republican’s five electors were turned away when they attempted to vote in the state capitol of Santa Fe, but they also signed paperwork asserting a false right to make electoral college votes.
Two of those five voters testified for the House Jan. 6 committee last year, and the New Mexico Secretary of State met with Smith’s investigation team last month.
An eventual suit from the Trump campaign contesting New Mexico’s results was purely a pretext for the elector’s scheme, Smith’s indictment alleges.
State Attorney General Hector Balderas (D) started an investigation into the group in January 2022, but like in Michigan, referred the case to federal prosecutors. There has been no public action in either a state or federal investigation since.
Pennsylvania
Fake electors in Pennsylvania include 20 Republicans who planned to contest the state’s results in the 2020 election. Among them were former Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) and the vice chair of the state GOP.
The point person for the group was state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R), who went on to be the Republican nominee for Governor in 2022, losing to Gov. Josh Shapiro (D).
But the Pennsylvania electors inserted a line into their signed vote document that makes them unique from other states. Their document reads that the votes would only be valid if they are recognized as “duly elected and qualified electors,” which they were not.
In 2022, Shapiro— then the state attorney general— citing that language, said the group’s actions were likely not criminal and that the state would not investigate them.