The attorney who initially conceived the fake electors plot defended the Trump campaign's election disputes as being in good faith. However, special prosecutor Jack Smith has now unveiled evidence indicating that certain aspects of their actions were merely a "pretext" designed to sustain a criminal scheme.
In the indictment against President Trump, Smith focuses on the fake electors scheme, a plan orchestrated by the Trump campaign to have electors from states Trump lost cast their votes regardless. The concept was to preserve Trump's electoral slate in case any court, state official, or Congress decided in his favor on January 6.
The attorney who initially proposed this idea, referred to as "Co-Conspirator 5," strongly resembles Kenneth Chesebro, a former protege of Harvard Law Professor Larry Tribe, who studied alongside future Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan and journalist Jeffrey Toobin in law school. Chesebro had previously maintained that his actions were entirely within the bounds of normal legal practice.
However, Smith's investigation exposes Chesebro's actions as a calculated move to create a pretext for the existence of fake electors, including the filing of lawsuits to fabricate disputes in states where none actually existed.
Chesebro reportedly shared his scheme with other members of the Trump campaign, leading to the expansion of the plan to multiple states. While the RNC initially showed some support, it eventually shifted its focus from preserving legal options to forcefully implementing the fake electors.
Chesebro's efforts aimed to maintain the appearance of a dispute, even though it was widely evident that Biden had secured victory by December 2020. This charade persisted until the events of January 6, which saw the violence during the joint session to certify Biden's win.
Smith's indictment highlights how Chesebro's actions, along with other elements of the Trump campaign's desperate attempt to overturn the election, ultimately contributed to the violence on January 6. It demonstrates that the fake electors were an integral part of the strategy to reverse Trump's loss.
In interviews conducted last year, Chesebro suggested that the fake electors were necessary to keep the debate about the election alive. However, Smith's findings present a stark contrast, revealing that the scheme relied on false disputes to justify its existence. For example, Chesebro allegedly drafted fake elector certificates in New Mexico after the deadline and filed a last-minute lawsuit to create a pretext for the fake electors to vote.
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