Report: Justice Dept. to investigate Republicans who sent fake Trump electors to Congress

By: John Micek - January 27, 2022 12:07 pm

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 06: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the one-year anniversary of the January 6th insurrection in Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2022 in Washington, DC. One year ago, supporters of President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building in an attempt to disrupt a congressional vote to confirm the electoral college win for Joe Biden. (Photo by Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)

The U.S. Dept. of Justice has launched an investigation into an apparent attempt by Republicans in seven battleground states won by President Joe Biden in 2020, including Pennsylvania, to allegedly subvert the election results by sending falsified slates of electors for ex-President Donald Trump to Congress, according to a published report.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told CNN that the Justice Department had started investigating what she described “fraudulent elector certifications,” The Guardian reported Wednesday.

Monaco said the DOJ had received referrals on the matter, and that “our prosecutors are looking at those.”

“We 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,” Monaco said, according to The Guardian.

According to The Guardian, bogus slates of Trump electors were sent to Congress by seven states that Biden won in 2020: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Two states, New Mexico and Pennsylvania – added a caveat that the Trump electors should only be counted in the event of a disputed election, The Guardian reported.

The five remaining states sent signed statements to Washington that gave the appearance that Trump had won, even though evidence showed Biden had emerged as the winner, the Guardian reported.

This story was earlier published by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, an affiliate of the nonprofit States Newsroom, which includes the Florida Phoenix.

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John Micek

A 3-decade veteran of the news business, John L. Micek is the Pennsylvania Capital-Star's Editor-in-Chief. An award-winning political reporter, Micek’s career has taken him from small town meetings and Chicago City Hall to Congress and the Pennsylvania Capitol. His weekly column on U.S. politics is syndicated to 800 newspapers nationwide by Cagle Syndicate. He also contributes commentary and analysis to broadcast outlets in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Micek’s first novel, “Ordinary Angels,” was released in 2019 by Sunbury Press.