How the Trump fake electors scheme became ‘corrupt plan’
WASHINGTON — The role fake electors played in Donald Trump’s desperate effort to cling to power after his 2020 defeat is at the center of a four-count indictment released against the former president Tuesday.
The third criminal case into Trump details what prosecutors say was a massive and monthslong effort to “impair, obstruct, and defeat” the federal process for certifying the results of a presidential election, culminating in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The 45-page indictment states that when Trump could not persuade state officials to illegally swing the election in his favor, he and his allies began recruiting a slate of fake electors in battleground states to sign certificates falsely stating that he had won their states.
While those certificates were ultimately ignored by lawmakers, federal prosecutors say it was all part of “a corrupt plan to subvert the federal government ... by stopping Biden ... votes from being ... certified.”
Here’s a deeper look at how the scheme unfolded, according to the indictment:
PIVOTAL TURN
The fake electors plan began in Wisconsin, with a memorandum from Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who was assisting the Trump campaign with legal challenges.
Cheseboro wrote the memo in mid-November 2020 that advocated for Trump supporters in Wisconsin to meet and cast their votes for him, in case the campaign’s litigation in the state succeeded.
But less than a month later, a new memo was issued that called for expanding the strategy to other key states, creating slates of “fraudulent electors” for Trump.
The end goal was “to prevent Biden from receiving the 270 electoral votes necessary to secure the presidency on January 6.”
RECRUITING
After the plan was expanded, Trump and attorney John Eastman asked Ronna McDaniel, Republican National Committee chair, to help recruit the fake electors.
The two men, according to prosecutors, “falsely represented” to McDaniel that electors would only be used if Trump’s lawsuits against the election succeeded. McDaniel agreed to help.
As the Trump electors prepared for a Dec. 14 gathering, when state electors met to certify electoral results, some had concerns. The fake electors in Pennsylvania told Giuliani and other Trump advisers they had reservations about signing a certificate that would present them as legitimate electors.
Giuliani, according to the indictment, “falsely assured” them their certificate would only be used if Trump’s litigation succeeded.
But winning in court was never the plan, according to prosecutors.
Chesebro wrote in a Dec. 13 email that the strategy “was not to use the fraudulent electors only (if) the Defendant’s litigation was successful in one of the targeted states.” Instead, he wrote, “the plan was to falsely present the fraudulent slates as an alternative ... at Congress’s certification proceeding.”
‘CRAZY PLAY’
On the eve of the state certifications, those close to the Trump campaign raised concerns about the fake electors plan, prosecutors say. Informed of what was going on, Trump’s deputy campaign manager said the scheme had “morphed into a crazy play.”
A senior adviser to the president texted, “Certifying illegal votes.” The campaign officials in the chat refused to sign a statement about the plan, because none of them could “stand by it.”
‘SHAM PROCEEDINGS’
On Dec. 14, 2020, as Democratic electors for Biden met to cast their votes, Republican electors for Trump gathered as well. They signed and submitted false Electoral College certificates declaring Trump the winner of the presidential election in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Those fraudulent certificates were mailed to Congress and the National Archives. Ultimately, only the legitimate election certificates were counted, despite Trump’s effort to create what prosecutors called a “fake controversy.”