Sun file
Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald is shown at a rally for then President Donald Trump on Sept. 10, 2020, in Las Vegas. McDonald is one of the Republican party leaders across multiple states suspected of pushing fake Electoral College documents to overturn President Joe Biden victory in the November 2020 presidential election.
Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022 | 11:06 a.m.
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In an interview with CNN, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco said federal prosecutors are reviewing fake Electoral College certificates sent to the National Archives by backers of then-President Donald Trump attempting to reverse his November presidential election loss to Joe Biden.
Fake electors in Nevada and six states where Trump was defeated by Biden staged what they led voters to believe were “brave electors” standing up for what is right by casting fictitious electoral votes for Trump over the rightful winner.
In Nevada, they went as far as to send a document — titled “Certificate of the Votes of the 2020 Electors from Nevada” — to the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
The scheme was unsuccessful, and possibly illegal.
Monaco told the network that prosecutors are “going to follow the facts and the law, wherever they lead, to address conduct of any kind and at any level that is part of an assault on our democracy.”
The faux Nevada group included: Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald; James DeGraffenreid, a national committeeman and district-level delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention; Durward James Hindle III, vice chair of the Nevada Republican Committee; Jesse Law, chairman of the Clark County Republican Party; Eileen Rice of the Douglas County Republicans; and Shawn Meehan of the Douglas County Republican Central Committee.
Alternate electors at the event, according to video footage, were Nye County Republican Central Committee Chairman Joe Burdzinski and James Marchant, who now is seeking the GOP nomination for Nevada secretary of state.
Audio leaked last week detailed how the Trump campaign, led by attorney Rudy Giuliani, directed Republicans in Michigan to seat fake delegates.
“We fought to seat the electors. The Trump campaign asked us to do that. I’m under a lot of scrutiny for that today,” Michigan Republican Party co-Chair Meshawn Maddock said in the audio clip.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford acknowledged that his office would stand up to anyone attempting to interfere with the legal election process.
“While we cannot confirm or deny the existence of an investigation, rest assured that this matter is on our radar, and we take seriously any efforts to rob Nevadans of their votes,” Ford said in a statement.
