Those who entered the Capitol on January 6 were only the first who would be targeted. The “insurrection” narrative is now being broadened to go after anyone who questions the Biden regime’s legitimacy.
The House’s January 6 select committee on Friday issued subpoenas for 14 individuals involved in Republican efforts to submit an alternative slate of electors in the wake of the 2020 election.
The panel is seeking documents and testimony from two pro-Trump electors each from seven battleground states whose electoral votes ultimately went to Biden. In these states, Republicans attempted to deliver their own slate of electors to Congress.
“We believe the individuals we have subpoenaed today have information about how these so-called alternate electors met and who was behind that scheme,” said January 6 committee chairman Bennie Johnson in a statement. “We encourage them to cooperate with the Select Committee’s investigation to get answers about January 6th for the American people and help ensure nothing like that day ever happens again.”
Those subpoenaed include David Shafer, chair of the Georgia Republican Party; Michael McDonald, chair of the Nevada Republican Party; and Michigan RNC Committeewoman Kathy Berden.
Those who were subpoenaed have two weeks to provide the committee with documents and were asked to appear for a deposition by late February.
“As was said publicly at the time, Wisconsin Republican electors were advised by legal counsel to keep legal options open by meeting and signing papers in support of President Trump should lawsuits on appeal ultimately be successful,” said Wisconsin Republican Party Chair Paul Farrow in a statement.
The effort to send an alternate slates of electors amid the uncertainty of the 2020 election results was public at the time, but has come under greater scrutiny by the Left due to reports from the mainstream media that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani oversaw the gatherings of pro-Trump electors.
When Democrat electors in states such as Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania formally met to cast their votes for Biden, Republicans met informally to submit their own slate. Each GOP gathering chose a chair and secretary to preside over its proceedings.
The select committee is subpoenaing those secretaries and chairs with particular focus on their decision to sign certificates declaring themselves the “duly elected and qualified” electors for their respective states.
According to a Politico report from earlier this month, Michigan and Arizona had turned over copies of the alternate certificates of ascertainment along with correspondence between the National Archives and state officials about the documents.
The select committee also received emails from a National Archives inspector general official indicating there was a case of potential fraud being pursued against a slate of would-be Trump electors in Arizona who identified themselves as “sovereign citizens.”
In a CNN interview, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said federal prosecutors are also looking into the matter.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, recently suggested that by signing the election certificates, some of the GOP electors may have exposed themselves to legal repercussions.
“What has manifested … a number of people who were deceived by those coordinating this effort at the highest level … I think it’s heartbreaking to see individuals who were lied to and perhaps acted in furtherance of those lies put themselves in a position where they could potentially be legally culpable,” Benson said. “And in that way, complicit in real, actual election fraud.”
Politico notes:
Republicans who were involved in the effort claimed they were acting on a precedent set in Hawaii in 1960, when three Democratic electors submitted an alternative slate in support of John F. Kennedy. At the time, Republican Richard Nixon had narrowly won and been certified as the victor in Hawaii, but an active recount was underway. Ultimately, the recount showed Kennedy prevailed by less than 150 votes on his way to winning the White House; the Democratic slate was later certified and counted.
The January 6 select committee originally looked at what it deemed a violent insurrection at the Capitol. But the expansion of the probe to include the legal alternate electors shows that the goal is to broaden the “insurrection” accusation to include anyone who tried or tries to challenge election fraud in the 2020 election.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has gone so far as to call Republicans’ election integrity bills a “legislative continuation” of the supposed January 6 “insurrection. Democrats are counting on using the 14th Amendment to bar any ‘insurrectionists’ from holding public office.”
