Trump's legal team picked the now-GOP nominee for governor of Pennsylvania as 'point person' for 'fake' electo (709 hits)
Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano speaks during a campaign rally at The Fuge on May 14, 2022 in Warminster, Pennsylvania.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Pennsylvania Republican Doug Mastriano was the Trump team's "point person" for a "fake" elector scheme.
Mastriano had concerns the scheme was illegal, per emails obtained by The New York Times.
The US Department of Justice is investigating the plan to propose "alternate," pro-Trump slates of electors.
That Doug Mastriano purports to believe the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump is no secret.
But according to emails obtained by The New York Times, even the Pennsylvania Republican — a state senator now running for governor — needed to be convinced that it was actually legal to submit alternate slates of electors who would support the former president in a last-ditch effort to overturn the popular vote in his state.
The US Department of Justice is currently investigating what one Trump lawyer described, per The Times, as a plan to submit "fake," pro-Trump electors in battleground states won by President Joe Biden. The alternate electors, which were appointed by neither a governor nor legislature, were submitted for seven states to the National Archives, an act that some legal experts believe could constitute a conspiracy to defraud the United States.
In Pennsylvania, which Biden won by more than 80,000 votes, the Trump legal team's "point person" for this effort was Mastriano, according to The Times. Although a Trump loyalist who spread false claims of voter fraud, Mastriano had to be reassured that the scheme was not "illegal," per emails sent between the former president's campaign staff.
"Mastriano needs a call from the mayor. This needs to be done. Talk to him about legalities of what they are doing," Christina Bobb, a former on-air personality with the far-right One America News Network who assisted the Trump effort, said in a Dec. 12 email, referring to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. "Electors want to be reassured that the process is * legal * essential for greater strategy."
Mastriano, who was endorsed by Trump ahead of the GOP gubernatorial primary in May, did not respond to a request for comment. In June, he hired Jenna Ellis, a Trump campaign lawyer who helped lead the alternate-slate effort.
Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com
The U.S. House committee investigating the January 2021 U.S. Capitol attack spent several hours Tuesday scrutinizing former President Donald Trump’s potentially illegal effort to convince GOP leaders in some states – including Pennsylvania – to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Trump and his allies repeatedly and falsely claimed widespread fraud had corrupted the results in several battleground states. Multiple court rulings, two commonwealth-mandated audits, and election security experts and officials of both parties concluded the 2020 presidential results were accurate.
One leg of Trump’s pressure campaign rested on getting groups of Republicans in swing states to send Congress a slate of presidential electors loyal to Trump. His re-election campaign hoped the Senate would certify the alternate electors selected instead of the real Electoral College votes.
Jacquelyn Martin / AP Photo A video exhibit is displayed as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol continues to reveal its findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. Pennsylvania’s role
Twenty Pennsylvania Republican politicos, activists, and business owners claiming to be their party’s electors met in Harrisburg on Dec. 14, 2020.
They signed a form certifying the state’s 2020 election results for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. But, the form they signed noted they would only become the state’s official electors if the Trump campaign won any of its dozens of election lawsuits. None of them succeeded.
Andy Reilly, who signed the form, referred to the Pennsylvania participants as “conditional electors” and said that the condition which would have caused their certification to take effect was never met.
Dec. 14 was the same day the real slate of electors met near the state Capitol complex to cast all of Pennsylvania’s Electoral College votes for Joe Biden. They did so without incident.
While both political parties normally prepare a shortlist of presidential electors before the results are in, none has tried to certify a presidential election for a clear loser and send that form to officials in Washington.
Here’s who signed the form:
– Lou Barletta, a former congressman and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate and governor.
-Charlie Gerow, a political strategist and Republican candidate for governor. According to Reilly, the group signed their certification form at the offices of Gerow’s public relations firm, Quantum Communications.
-Andy Reilly, a lawyer and Republican Party of Pennsylvania national committeeman.
–Bill Bachenberg, an NRA Board member and Lehigh Valley firearms business owner. The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed Bachenberg along with fake electors from other states.
-Tom Carroll, a recently-elected Northampton County Republican committee member and former assistant district attorney.
-Ted Christian, Pennsylvania state director for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
–Chuck Coccodrilli, a political activist who died last October.
-Bernadette Comfort, the vice chairwoman for the Pennsylvania Republican Party.
–Sam DeMarco III, an at-large representative on the Allegheny County Council and Republican Committee of Allegheny County chair.
-Marcela Diaz-Myers, who served as the chairwoman of PA GOP Hispanic Advisory Council. She has since removed that role from her LinkedIn page. Another link to her bio on the Advisory Council’s website is no longer active.
–Christie DiEsposti, an account representative at a company called Pure Water Technology.
–Josephine Ferro, the Monroe County Register of Wills/Recorder of Deeds.
–Kevin Harley, who manages Quantum Communications alongside Gerow. He also served as Republican Gov. Tom Corbett’s communication director and press secretary.
-Leah Hoopes, a defendant in a Delaware County defamation lawsuit alleging Trump’s false claims that workers tampered with election machines there subjected the elections supervisor to threats.
-Ash Khare, a retired engineer and Pennsylvania Republican Party member.
-Andre McCoy, a retired U.S. Army major.
-Lisa Patton, a Harrisburg business owner who was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee earlier this year.
-Patricia Poprik, the chair of the Bucks County Republican Committee.
-Suk Smith, a Carlisle business owner.
-Calvin Tucker, the deputy chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party.
Seven others had been asked to sign the certification form, including state GOP Chair Lawrence Tabas and former Congressman Tom Marino, but refused.
Marino told the Washington Post he trusted U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr’s conclusion that the 2020 election was free and fair, adding “I’m not going to jump on a bandwagon to say that I know better than the courts.”
New details about the fake elector meeting
In an interview with WITF, Reilly said the elector group was asked to join a call during which the Trump team asked them to meet by Dec. 14.
He said a group that included Rudy Guiliani pointed to a 1960 dispute between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon over Hawaii’s election result as “precedent.” Only about 200 votes separated the candidates after that election, so electors from both parties sent signed certificates to D.C. claiming their candidate had won.
“There was precedent, they were saying, for us to do it. So that’s the course we took,” Reilly said.
Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes.
Reilly, a lawyer, said he “and others” had reservations about joining the effort. He added he was among those who suggested hedging the language of the certification sheet.
“I and others on the phone call raised [the concern] that we have no standing to do it. You can’t have two sets of electors,” he said. “So it was done conditionally. Everyone on the phone call agreed to it.”
Reilly said he “acknowledged” at the time that Biden had more votes than Trump, but was holding out hope for a Trump campaign legal victory. After Trump’s numerous defeats in court, he said he changed his tune.
“Everyone knows Joe Biden won the election, and I believe that now,” Reilly said.
In the same breath, the state Republican Party leader added he still believes unspecified “irregularities” in the state’s voting procedures may have changed the outcome.
State House Speaker Cutler’s testimony
The committee also unveiled previously-unseen footage of testimony by House Speaker Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster) on Tuesday. Cutler was among those pressured to use his office to overturn the state’s presidential vote and justify it by using false claims of election fraud. In a statement, he said he spoke with the January 6 committee twice over the last few months.
When asked to elaborate, he said providing additional comments on his interviews was “inappropriate.” Cutler added he did not know which parts of his testimony would be used during public hearings.
An investigator revealed Cutler rejected calls from then-Trump campaign lawyers Jenna Ellis and Guiliani. Both were recorded trying to speak with him about false election fraud claims. Ellis is now a senior legal adviser for state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin)’s campaign for governor.
Cutler said when he rejected the efforts, he was targeted by Trump-allied protestors. The committee showed that effort was led by people like former White House strategist Steve Bannon.
“All of my personal information was doxxed online… It was my personal email, my personal cell phone, my home phone,” Cutler told the committee. “We had to disconnect our home phone for about three days because it would ring all hours of the night and fill up with messages.”
Cutler has previously said Trump called him at least twice asking for his help to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results, falsely citing, “all these issues in Philadelphia, and these issues with [state election] law.”
Around the same time, the House Speaker joined dozens of other state lawmakers in signing a letter on Dec. 4 asking Congress to object to Pennsylvania’s soon-to-be-cast Electoral College vote.
Cutler’s spokesperson, Mike Straub, said last January the Speaker joined the effort because of “legal challenges to Pennsylvania’s change in law [that] were pending.” Straub said Cutler “did not call for overturning any election results” in signing the letter.
The Lancaster County Republican is one of the only state lawmakers to speak publicly about the decision. Of the 76 that signed objection letters in the House and Senate, four have spoken with WITF about them. Along with Cutler, they are Rep. Doyle Heffley (R-Carbon), Rep. Paul Schemel (R-Franklin) and Rep. Frank Ryan (R-Lebanon).
What’s next
Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D, MS-2) said the panel will reveal its findings on former President Trump’s efforts to pressure the Justice Department on Thursday.
Part of a tier of schemes to keep the former president in power, this one allegedly involved Trump personally trying to replace then-acting Attorney General Richard Donoghue with Jeffrey Clark. The junior-level official was sympathetic to Trump’s false election fraud claims.
A U.S. Senate report revealed midstate GOP Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10) played a key role in pushing for Clark’s appointment. The Jan. 6 committee has text messages from Perry and said he sought a pardon from Trump over his actions leading up to the U.S. Capitol attack. He has denied the charge.
Pa. Republican lawmakers and the U.S. Capitol attack As part of WITF’s commitment to standing with facts, and because the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol was an attempt to overthrow representative democracy in America, we are marking elected officials’ connections to the insurrection. Read more about this commitment. Rep. Cutler (R-Lancaster) is among the several dozen lawmakers who signed a letter asking Congress to object to Pennsylvania’s 2020 electoral college vote — despite no evidence that would call those results into question. Sen. Mastriano (R-Franklin) joined those who signed another letter asking Congress to delay certifying the state’s result. U.S. Rep. Perry (R, PA-10) joined 146 members of Congress who voted to overturn that result. WITF’s Robby Brod contributed to this story. All of these actions supported the election-fraud lie, which led to the attack on the Capitol.
Now you know the FACTS about The 2020 Presidential Elections in Pennsylvania. Now remember Steve, Trump and his allies repeatedly and falsely claimed widespread fraud had corrupted the results in several battleground states. Multiple court rulings, two commonwealth-mandated audits, and election security experts and officials of both parties concluded the 2020 presidential results were accurate.
They signed a form certifying the state’s 2020 election results for Donald Trump and Mike Pence. But, the form they signed noted they would only become the state’s official electors if the Trump campaign won any of its dozens of election lawsuits. None of them succeeded.
Remember Steve, Joe Biden won Pennsylvania by more than 80,000 votes.
Did you see this one: "Cutler has previously said Trump called him at least twice asking for his help to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results, falsely citing, “all these issues in Philadelphia, and these issues with [state election] law.”
I see that Trump was busy on Jan 6th in Pennsylvania. Did you know this Steve?
Steve, that means that TRUMP Knew he had lost The 2020 Presidential Election and now Trump is calling on what he thinks are friends, for a little help with a "Take Over" of Democracy.
Steve, do you still believe Trump won The 2020 Presidential Election when TRUMP didn't?
January 6 committee found there’s enough evidence to suggest Trump and his allies potentially violated laws that prohibit obstructing an official U.S. proceeding and engaged in a “criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States” and common law fraud.
The committee can’t undertake a criminal investigation into Trump or charge him with a crime itself, but they can refer the issue to the Department of Justice, which could then launch an investigation into the ex-president.
January 6 committee found there’s enough evidence to suggest Trump and his allies potentially violated laws that prohibit obstructing an official U.S. proceeding and engaged in a “criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States” and common law fraud.
That's a BIG LIE Ron.
The laws that apply to winner-take-all Electors are State laws. What is the Illinois law?
§ 5. Ratification and approval of compact. The State of Illinois ratifies and approves the following compact:
“Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote Article I-Membership
Any State of the United States and the District of Columbia may become a member of this agreement by enacting this agreement.
Article II-Right of the People in Member States to Vote for President and Vice President
Each member state shall conduct a statewide popular election for President and Vice President of the United States.
Article III-Manner of Appointing Presidential Electors in Member States
Prior to the time set by law for the meeting and voting by the presidential electors, the chief election official of each member state shall determine the number of votes for each presidential slate in each State of the United States and in the District of Columbia in which votes have been cast in a statewide popular election and shall add such votes together to produce a “national popular vote total” for each presidential slate.
The chief election official of each member state shall designate the presidential slate with the largest national popular vote total as the “national popular vote winner.”
The presidential elector certifying official of each member state shall certify the appointment in that official's own state of the elector slate nominated in that state in association with the national popular vote winner.
At least six days before the day fixed by law for the meeting and voting by the presidential electors, each member state shall make a final determination of the number of popular votes cast in the state for each presidential slate and shall communicate an official statement of such determination within 24 hours to the chief election official of each other member state.
The chief election official of each member state shall treat as conclusive an official statement containing the number of popular votes in a state for each presidential slate made by the day established by federal law for making a state's final determination conclusive as to the counting of electoral votes by Congress.
In event of a tie for the national popular vote winner, the presidential elector certifying official of each member state shall certify the appointment of the elector slate nominated in association with the presidential slate receiving the largest number of popular votes within that official's own state.
If, for any reason, the number of presidential electors nominated in a member state in association with the national popular vote winner is less than or greater than that state's number of electoral votes, the presidential candidate on the presidential slate that has been designated as the national popular vote winner shall have the power to nominate the presidential electors for that state and that state's presidential elector certifying official shall certify the appointment of such nominees.
The chief election official of each member state shall immediately release to the public all vote counts or statements of votes as they are determined or obtained.
This article shall govern the appointment of presidential electors in each member state in any year in which this agreement is, on July 20, in effect in states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes.
Article IV-Other Provisions
This agreement shall take effect when states cumulatively possessing a majority of the electoral votes have enacted this agreement in substantially the same form and the enactments by such states have taken effect in each state.
Any member state may withdraw from this agreement, except that a withdrawal occurring six months or less before the end of a President's term shall not become effective until a President or Vice President shall have been qualified to serve the next term.
The chief executive of each member state shall promptly notify the chief executive of all other states of when this agreement has been enacted and has taken effect in that official's state, when the state has withdrawn from this agreement, and when this agreement takes effect generally.
This agreement shall terminate if the electoral college is abolished.
If any provision of this agreement is held invalid, the remaining provisions shall not be affected.
Article V-Definitions
For purposes of this agreement, “chief executive” shall mean the Governor of a State of the United States or the Mayor of the District of Columbia;
“elector slate” shall mean a slate of candidates who have been nominated in a state for the position of presidential elector in association with a presidential slate;
“chief election official” shall mean the state official or body that is authorized to certify the total number of popular votes for each presidential slate;
“presidential elector” shall mean an elector for President and Vice President of the United States;
“presidential elector certifying official” shall mean the state official or body that is authorized to certify the appointment of the state's presidential electors;
“presidential slate” shall mean a slate of two persons, the first of whom has been nominated as a candidate for President of the United States and the second of whom has been nominated as a candidate for Vice President of the United States, or any legal successors to such persons, regardless of whether both names appear on the ballot presented to the voter in a particular state;
“state” shall mean a State of the United States and the District of Columbia; and
“statewide popular election” shall mean a general election in which votes are cast for presidential slates by individual voters and counted on a statewide basis.”.
All voters should be valued equally in presidential elections, no matter where they live. Our current Electoral College system, grounded in state laws which allocate electoral votes on a winner-take-all basis, leads presidential candidates to concentrate their resources on voters in a handful of swing states, relegating the vast majority of the country to spectator status. Instead, we should elect the president by a national popular vote—and there's a state-based, constitutional way to do so: The National Popular Vote interstate compact.
WANT TO TAKE ACTION? VISIT NATIONALPOPULARVOTE.COM
Steve, don’t you get it, if I was to give Trump the win in Georgia, that still means Trump was clearly FIRED by the people of The United States of America 🇺🇸 by a landslide. He still Would not have enough delegates to win the office of president, of The United States of 🇺🇸.
Now STOP BULL 💩ING and show me your proof that makes you believe that TRUMP won The 2022 Presidential election because so far, you have not shown me a thing to support your beliefs Steve.
Pennsylvania Republican Doug Mastriano was the Trump team's "point person" for a "fake" elector scheme, which was based on Trump’s “THE BIG LIE.” Ok Steve, what to you want to say about This loyal subject of trumps BIG LIE.
Mastriano gives you NO HOPE because Mastriano can't tell you how The 2020 Presidential Election was (SO CALLED) stolen election from TRUMP and you can't either, now can you Steve?
You better because you can’t find any evidence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. That is what THE BIG LIE was all about Steve, you have conned and now you are too shame to admit it. WOW!!!
Doug Mastriano has a secret. The Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor says he’s chosen someone to serve as the commonwealth’s next secretary of state — a position that will hold enormous power over the 2024 presidential election. But he won’t tell voters who it is.
In normal circumstances, that reticence to name a key appointment so early in a gubernatorial contest would hardly be notable. But secretary of state positions have attracted unprecedented attention since the 2020 election, as Republican candidates who have embraced the conspiracy theory that the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump have lined up to run for positions that would give them the power to oversee future elections. And Mastriano is one of the nation’s foremost election skeptics: The state senator tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania, then bused supporters to Washington, D.C., on the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Because Pennsylvania is among the states in which the governor appoints the secretary of state, the 2022 gubernatorial race is essentially a “Buy one, get one” deal for Republican election deniers: A Mastriano victory all but ensures that the next secretary of the commonwealth will be someone who shares his anti-democratic zeal toward the 2020 election and who could work closely with Mastriano to roll back voting rights, overhaul Pennsylvania’s election system or even refuse to certify future results, including in the 2024 presidential contest.
Mastriano understands the power he would hold as governor. He argued to Republican voters during the primary that he could “decertify every voting machine” were he elected, and he has openly hinted that he has already chosen a potential secretary of state who shares his views.
“As governor, I get to appoint the secretary of state. And I have a voting-reform-minded individual who’s been traveling the nation and knows voting reform extremely well,” Mastriano said during an April appearance on ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s podcast. “That individual has agreed to be my secretary of state.”
He later told a local Pennsylvania news station that he has already assembled “a team of people that would work for this individual.”
Hey Steve, is this what you really want for the country:
A Mastriano victory all but ensures that the next secretary of the commonwealth will be someone who shares his anti-democratic zeal toward the 2020 election and who could work closely with Mastriano to roll back voting rights, overhaul Pennsylvania’s election system or even refuse to certify future results, including in the 2024 presidential contest.
I don't agree that Mastriano is anti-democratic Ron. He was just elected democratically in the Republican Primary and will beat Josh Shapiro democratically in the General election.
That is right but yet this one man wants the power to subvert and undermine the power and authority and will of the people in his state of Pennsylvania,’ It sounds like a dictatorship forming. Steve, that means you and this is a person you want to give power to? WOW!!!
could work closely with Mastriano to roll back voting rights, overhaul Pennsylvania’s election system or even refuse to certify future results, including in the 2024 presidential contest.
Friday, August 5th 2022 at 4:56AM
Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
What do this Line out of this paragraph mean to you Steve?:
could work closely with Mastriano to roll back voting rights, overhaul Pennsylvania’s election system or even refuse to certify future results, including in the 2024 presidential contest.
If a person says what he is going to do, you might as well believe that person because that is what that person got on there mind, Until proven different.
Remember Steve, these words are TRUMPS.
Now are you going to tell me and the people here on Black In America, what this means to you: “ could work closely with Mastriano to roll back voting rights, overhaul Pennsylvania’s election system or even refuse to certify future results, including in the 2024 presidential contest.”
Now are you going to tell me and the people here on Black In America, what this means to you: “ could work closely with Mastriano to roll back voting rights, overhaul Pennsylvania’s election system or even refuse to certify future results, including in the 2024 presidential contest.”
“In Pennsylvania, the Secretary of State is not elected. He or she is appointed by the governor. And that gives the governor a lot of power and say on how elections are conducted, because elections are underneath the purview of the Secretary of State, that we call the Secretary of the Commonwealth. And so I have the power as governor to decertify or certify any machines or anything else involved with elections. At the stroke of a pen, I can decertify every single machine in the state. So what’s going to happen here, on day one, is any machines that are compromised and we’re not going to throw the names of the companies out there, but they’ve been discussed a lot. They’re gone. They’re done. And we’re going to have to go with assets. I’d prefer paper ballots. We’ll work with the counties on this. We’ll go with the assets that actually are reliable and can’t go online. Additionally, the Secretary of State can inspect the voting logs and everything else in each of the counties. So, I already have a Secretary of State picked out.”
Mastriano Wants the power of a dictator, he wants to have the power to override the will and the voice of the people of The United States of America 🇺🇸
But those Electors from each state don't have the power to override the voice of the people. Who are the electors and how are they chosen? Under the rules that are approved by the state legislatures, different political parties within each state handpick people to serve as electors. These are generally party leaders or members. Surprisingly the Constitution of the US has very few provisions as far as the qualification of electors is concerned.
