The individuals who signed and transmitted fraudulent Electoral College ballots claiming their states voted for Donald Trump must be held to account.
It is astonishing that more than a year after the certification of the 2020 presidential election, public attention has only now begun to focus intensely on these phony GOP state certifications. They are not just deplorable political acts of subversion. They are criminal acts. As laid out by Charlie Sykes over the weekend, the fake certificates are part of a much broader conspiracy by Donald Trump and others to corruptly obstruct, influence or impede the electoral vote count proceedings within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2).
But not just that.
The signing and transmission of the phony certificates were also standalone crimes in and of themselves, committed in broad daylight and easily prosecuted.
The involvement of top Trump administration and campaign officials in this effort looks deep and wide. It’s the job of the January 6th House committee and (hopefully) the Department of Justice to put together all that information, and presumably journalists will continue to dig into it.
Assertions of Fifth Amendment rights aside, there’s plenty for anyone who coordinated or participated in this fraudulent scheme to worry about.