For the first time in 30 months, the U.S. Department of Justice has filed forged documents claiming that Democrat Joe Biden was the legitimate electoral candidate who actually won the November 2020 election against some Republicans in seven states. We are stepping up our investigation.
CNN report On June 23, it announced that two false Nevada Trump electors had been granted limited immunity from testimony.The same day, the New York Times report Trump adviser Michael Roman said he was in talks to volunteer to answer questions about the fake Electoral College Plan. Roman was President Trump’s election day manager. Like CNN, The Times recently reported that “several” witnesses had been summoned to appear before a grand jury in a federal district court in Washington.
Immunity has been given to false electors in other states, but it is unclear if the same applies to Arizona false electors, some of whom reportedly held the Arizona state elections on January 6. He was subpoenaed a year ago after being questioned by a now-dissolved House committee that investigated the attack. US Capitol.
Neither publication specifically mentioned Arizona officials. Arizona was one of seven states to send alternate electoral votes to former President Donald Trump, even though he lost the election.
None of the Arizona Republican lawmakers who signed the false document contacted by the Arizona Republic commented on the development on Monday.
One of Arizona’s false electors, State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek, R-Queen Creek), refused to discuss an investigation into the plan when approached recently in the Capitol, asking questions. I retreated to the staircase reserved for members of parliament without touching it.
But Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays said the case was still developing despite the passage of time.
“The investigation is ongoing,” Mays spokesman Richie Taylor said Monday.
Federal exemption for Nevada Republicans follows recent action news In Georgia, at least eight of the state’s false electors were granted immunity in county-level investigations.
In fact, there were two different groups of fake Republican electors in Arizona. As emails exposed by The New York Times showed, one group included both state party chairmen and individuals like Hoffman, who would later win their own public office, and Trump’s legal team. was collaborating with
Another group in Arizona was made up of lesser-known Republican supporters who seemed to be acting independently.
CNN reported that Nevada Republican Party chairman Michael McDonald and another Nevada Republican official, Jim Degraffenreed, testified before the grand jury in exchange for immunity.
These officials may have had more direct interactions with President Trump than Arizona officials during the election and subsequent Capitol storming on January 6.
For example, according to records from the House committee investigating the attack, McDonald’s called President Trump, then-Chief of Staff attorneys Mark Meadows, attorneys Rudy Giuliani, and son Eric Trump on November 4, 2020. held a meeting.Obtained by the New York Times e-mail It showed that Arizona attorney Jack Wilenczyk, who worked with Arizona’s false electors, discussed the plan with Trump’s adviser, Boris Epstein.
“We are asking Vice President Pence (Mike) to run a ‘fake’ election so that ‘someone’ in Congress can challenge it when it starts counting and start arguing that ‘fake’ votes should be counted. We’ll just send in voters,” Wilentzyk wrote to Epstein in an email Dec. 8, 2020, according to The Times.
Epstein worked with his attorney, John Eastman, to develop a plan to block Congress from certifying the election on January 6, 2021.
In a separate email, The Times reported that Mr. Wilentzyk called the plan “kind of wild and creative.”
Arizona’s Trump electoral candidates gathered at state Republican headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020 to sign papers to be submitted to Congress. They tweeted about their efforts, including videos of participants.
Mr. Pence and his legal team rejected the by-election legal strategy.
All Arizona Republican electors participated in the effort. They include:
Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point USA executive and member of the Republican National Committee. Nancy Cottle, chairman of the Trump Electoral College in Arizona. Hoffman; Anthony Kahn, now state senator; Jim Ramon, unsuccessful US Senate candidate. Robert Montgomery of the Cochise County Republican Commission. Gila County Republican Samuel Moorhead. Lorraine Pellegrino, Arizona Trump Electoral Secretary. Greg Sufften, former secretary general of the Arizona Republican Party. then state Republican Party chairman Kelly Ward; Her husband, Republican activist Michael Ward.
Officials have long argued that the effort was just a back-up plan to secure a certain electoral vote in Arizona in case Trump’s legal challenge to his defeat in Arizona succeeds. But the documents they submitted didn’t say much. “This is not a lot to do,” Ramon said on political TV in January 2022.
