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By Miriam Raftery
Photo: Boxes hold electoral college electors' votes, awaiting certification by Vice President Mike Pence in Congress on January 6, 2021. Photo courtesy of Senator Jeff Merkley.
July 19, 2023 (Washington D.C.) – Former President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he received notice that he is a target of a federal grand jury investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The Grand Jury has been looking into the violent attack on the U.S. capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. That attack included plans by insurrectionists to halt the counting of votes and now appears tied to a conspiracy to certify fake electors from multiple states and substitute them for the real electors’ votes.
The U.S. Department of Justice and some states have launched probes into the fake elector scheme,with the first arrests announced in Michigan, where felony charges have been filed. Here’s the latest, according to Newsweek:
Michigan arrests: Michigan’s attorney general this week filed federal charges against 16 Republican electors for forgery and conspiracy to commit election law forgery. Although Joe Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes, or 3%, Trump supporters allegedly forged a certificate claiming they were the state’s electors and sent that false certificate to the National Archives and Congress. It falsely stated that the Trump electors had met in Michigan’s capitol, when in fact only Biden’s electors convened there to cast their legitimate votes.
Georgia: A Georgia Grand Jury in Fulton County is expected to indict Trump and allies in the near future, after granting immunity to eight of the 16 fake electors in Georgia who signed a certificate falsely claiming to be the state’s electors, similar to the Michigan scheme. Trump may also face charges in Georgia for his calls pressuring Georgia’s Secretary of State to “find” enough votes to give Trump victory after Biden won the state. Law enforcement in the area has been told to beef up security in anticipation of a likely Trump indictment in July or August, the local Fox station reports.
New Mexico: The state’s attorney general has told CNN he was pleased that the US. Dept. of Justice is investigating allegations of a plot in New Mexico involving five fake electors.
Nevada: The U.S. Dept. of Justice has announced it is investigating six allegedly fake electors in Nevada, where the state’s attorney general has said he welcomes the probe.
Pennsylvania: Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigators have met with the Secretary of State for Pennsylvania, where 20 people allegedly were fake electors.
Wisconsin: Democrats have filed a civil lawsuit against 10 allegedly fake electors. Wisconsin Congressman Mark Pocan has asked the U.S. Justice Dept. to investigate the alleged conspiracy.
On Twitter, Trump railed against special prosecutor Jack Smith, stating, “Deranged Jack Smith, the prosecutor with Joe Biden’s DOJ, sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Smith’s office has declined comment, multiple major news outlets report, as is customary in Grand Jury proceedings. However, notification of an individual that they are a target of a Grand Jury problem could mean an indictment is just days away.
It is unclear yet what charges would be filed against Trump related to the Grand Jury probing the January 6 capitol attack and related election theft conspiracy.
It is unclear whether Smith may charge Trump with inciting the insurrection through his inflammatory speech at the Capitol Ellipse, in which he claimed the election had been stolen from him and urged his followers to march to the capitol and “take back” our country. This came after 62 judges, including some appointed by Trump, ruled that there was no evidence that the election was stolen from Trump in any state.
It now appears that efforts to steal the election were, in fact, conducted by Trump supporters as part of a conspiracy to substitute real electors who cast their votes for Biden with the electoral college with fake pro-Trump electors, if the allegations in at least six states are true.
Trump could potentially also face charges related to dereliction of duty for the nearly three hours during the Capitol attack when he watched the violence unfold, but did nothing to urge his supporters to stop it. Trump refused to order in the National Guard to help restore peace; it was Vice President Mike Pence who did so. To date, more than 1,000 people have been arrested for the January 6 attack and 485 have been sentenced on charges ranging from assault to seditious conspiracy.
Many of those who were convicted told courts they were inspired by Donald Trump,though proving Trump intended for his supporters to become violent may be a harder charge to prove then others, such as conspiring to change the election results through fake electors. Trump might also be charged for pressuring Mike Pence to illegally refuse to certify the votes of legitimate electors, in order to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. The scheme, it appears, was for those votes to be substituted with the fake electors' votes, in order for Trump to falsely be certified the winner by Congress.
Pence refused to halt the certification of votes, and then the violent mob attacked the Capitol and sought to seize the boxes containing the real electors' votes. Several Senate aids managed to whisk the boxes to safety, preserving the ballots.
After the violence at the Capitol injured 140 police officers and resulted in several deaths, Congress reconvened and Vice President Pence fulfilled his Constitutional duty by certifying the lawfully cast electors' votes.
Trump has already been indicted on federal charges in Florida related to mishandling classified documents, including charges under the Espionage Act, as well as on criminal charges in New York state over alleged hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Though Trump is still viewed as the front-running for the 2024 Republican presidential primary, a growing number of prominent Republicans have denounced his actions as the criminal cases against him mount.
Those critics include Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor and ex-New Jersey Governor who is also a GOP presidential candidate. He called evidence against Trump “devastating” in the classified documents case, adding, “Is this the type of conduct we want from someone who wants to be president of the United States?"
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is also running against Trump, claimed that any indictment of the former president would be part of “an attempt to criminalize politics and to try to criminalize differences,” while also saying that Mr. Trump should have “come out more forcefully” to stop his supporters from storming the Capitol on Jan. 6.
President Joe Biden has sought to distance himself from the probe by having Attorney General Merrick Garland appoint a special prosecutor. Jack Smith is a career prosecutor who has previously prosecuted war criminals at the Hague as well as organized crime figures for the U.S. Dept. of Justice. Biden has refrained from commenting on Trump’s legal woes, but has criticized Trump for thus far refusing to debate his opponents.
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