Jan. 6 Committee Issues Subpoenas to ‘Alternate Electors’
WASHINGTON — The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the United States Capitol issued subpoenas on Friday to 14 individuals who filed fake Electoral College certificates declaring former President Donald Trump the winner of their states.
The subpoenaed activists and officials, referred to as “alternate electors” in the committee’s announcement, are from battleground states that Biden won in the 2020 presidential election. The individuals hail from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and all appear to be Republican Party members.
The Jan. 6 committee cited information alleging the individuals met on Dec. 14, 2020, in seven states won by Biden in the election. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the select committee, issued a written statement announcing the latest round of subpoenas on Friday.
“The select committee is seeking information about attempts in multiple states to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including the planning and coordination of efforts to send false slates of electors to the National Archives,” Thompson said in a written statement. “We believe the individuals we have subpoenaed today have information about how these so-called alternate electors met and who was behind that scheme. We encourage them to cooperate with the select committee’s investigation to get answers about Jan. 6 for the American people and help ensure nothing like that day ever happens again.”
Multiple individuals advising Trump used the falsified documents to justify delaying the counting and certification of the election during the Joint Session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. The subpoenaed individuals, listed as either chairperson or secretary of the alternate elector delegations, are:
- Nancy Cottle, Chairperson, Arizona
- Loraine B. Pellegrino, Secretary, Arizona
- David Shafer, Chairperson, Georgia
- Shawn Still, Secretary, Georgia
- Kathy Berden, Chairperson, Michigan
- Mayra Rodriguez, Secretary, Michigan
- Jewll Powdrell, Chairperson, New Mexico
- Deborah W. Maestas, Secretary, New Mexico
- Michael J. McDonald, Chairperson, Nevada
- James DeGraffenreid, Secretary, Nevada
- Bill Bachenberg, Chairperson, Pennsylvania
- Lisa Patton, Secretary, Pennsylvania
- Andrew Hitt, Chairperson, Wisconsin
- Kelly Ruh, Secretary, Wisconsin
“Based on publicly available information and information provided to the select committee, we believe that you have documents and information that are relevant to the select committee’s investigation,” Thompson said in the subpoenas. “For example, according to documents sent to the National Archives, you were a purported Electoral College elector who met with other purported electors on or about Dec. 14, 2020, to cast votes for former President Trump and former Vice President Pence despite the fact that your state had made a final determination that Joseph Biden Jr. and Kamala Harris were the winners of the November 2020 presidential election and the appointment of their electors had been certified.”
The letters also state that the individuals are compelled to produce documentation relating to their coordinated activities leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Further, the so-called alternate electors will be required to appear for a deposition before the committee on Feb. 16, 2022.
Lisa Monaco, deputy attorney general, said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday the Department of Justice was looking into the false electors scheme but declined to go into greater detail. The Well News reached out to DOJ officials regarding the investigation but has not yet received a response.
Reece can be reached at [email protected]
