Giuliani, Trump campaign reportedly orchestrated the fake 2020 electors scheme in 7 states

Rudy Giuliani, officials from former President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign, and an anchor for pro-Trump network One American News (OAN) were intimately involved in an elaborate effort to send illegitimate electoral certificates to the National Archives and Congress from seven states President Biden won, CNN and The Washington Post reported Thursday evening, citing people with direct knowledge of the scheme, plus public comments by those involved.
Giuliani oversaw the effort, including participating in at least one of the planning calls with GOP state operatives, and Trump's campaign worked to assemble the ersatz electors on Dec. 14, 2020, and line up replacements for 15 Trump electors who declined to participate in the scheme, CNN and the Post report.
The gatherings of the "alternate" electors was not secret — Arizona GOP officials posted video of the fake certificate signings and OAN covered them instead of the legitimate electoral college vote on Dec. 14 — but the nuts-and-bolts involvement of Giuliani and the Trump campaign, and the coordinated scheme's integral part of a larger plan to overturn Biden's victory, are new information. CNN, for example, posted newly obtained audio of Michigan Trump elector Meshawn Maddock saying the Trump campaign asked them to push the illegitimate electors.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
CNN's Anderson Cooper called the scheme "just nuts" on Thursday night. "It's like a clown car on fire."
"By the time of the electoral college vote, efforts by Trump and his supporters to overturn the results had been rejected by at least 86 judges, including nine Supreme Court justices." the Post notes. The electoral pretenders from Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia still signed fake electoral certificates and sent them to the National Archives. Trump electors from Pennsylvania and New Mexico convinced the Trump campaign to let them include a caveat that they were only electors-in-waiting, CNN reports.
Trump campaign officials and others involved in the plot said at the time — and continue to maintain — they were just preparing an alternate slate of electors should Trump prevail in court or state legislatures. "In ways that were not publicly known until months later, however, the rival slates were leveraged as evidence in last-ditch efforts to give Vice President Mike Pence the ability to reject Biden's victory when he presided over the electoral vote count in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021," the Post reports.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
'A recipe for higher costs and lower living standards'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Children's health has declined in the US
The Explainer It's likely a sign of larger systemic issues
-
Judge nixes wiping medical debt from credit checks
Speed Read Medical debt can now be included in credit reports
-
Judge nixes wiping medical debt from credit checks
Speed Read Medical debt can now be included in credit reports
-
Grijalva wins Democratic special primary for Arizona
Speed Read She will go up against Republican nominee Daniel Butierez to fill the US House seat her father held until his death earlier this year
-
US inflation jumps as Trump tariffs 'bite'
Speed Read Consumer prices are climbing and the inflation rate rose to its highest level in four months
-
SCOTUS greenlights mass DOE firings
Speed Read The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to further shrink the Education Department
-
Cuomo announces third-party run for NYC mayor
Speed Read He will go up against progressive Democratic powerhouse Zohran Mamdani and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams
-
Secret Service 'failures' on Trump shooting
Speed Read Two new reports detail security breakdowns that led to attempts on the president's life
-
Trump set to hit Canada with 35% tariffs
Speed Read The president accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of failing to stop the cross-border flow of fentanyl
-
Mahmoud Khalil files $20M claim over ICE detention
Speed Read This is the 'first damages complaint' brought by an individual targeted by the Trump's administration's 'crackdown' on Gaza war protesters