FBI interviews GOP county chairman in Pittsburgh in regards to fake elector scheme
FBI agents interviewed Allegheny County Republican Party chairman Sam DeMarco at his Pittsburgh home as part of their investigation into former President Donald Trump’s attempt to send alternate electors from key swing states to Washington to overturn the 2020 election, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Agents served DeMarco with a subpoena for communications between him, members of Trump's campaign and legal team, and Trump electors in Pennsylvania.
“I’ll certainly comply with their request,” DeMarco said.
Presidents are not elected directly by citizens, but chosen by "electors" named to a body called the electoral college by the party that wins the presidential vote in each state.
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According to the Jan. 6 committee, a key plank of the plot to subvert the 2020 election was getting pro-Trump Republicans in swing states won by Biden to submit official-looking but fake certificates claiming they were the legitimate electors.
The committee says Trump pressed his vice president Mike Pence to accept these "fake electors" when he was overseeing certification of Biden's victory on January 6, 2021.
Pence ultimately refused to recognize the pro-Trump slates and the president's supporters rioted for hours at the Capitol in unprecedented scenes of brutality that led to at least five deaths.
"Pennsylvania was one of seven key states in which the Trump campaign pressured its electors to sign declarations falsely asserting they were the duly chosen members of the electoral college, rather than the electors representing President-elect Joe Biden," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
"But in Pennsylvania and New Mexico, the electors balked, insisting the declaration’s language be changed to say they should only be recognized as duly elected if Mr. Trump won his court challenges to Mr. Biden’s victory," the publication added.
With additional reporting by AFP