Two days before the January 6 insurrection, the Trump campaign’s plan to use fake electors to block President-elect Joe Biden from taking office faced a potentially crippling hiccup: The fake elector certificates from two critical battleground states were stuck in the mail.

So, Trump campaign operatives scrambled to fly copies of the phony certificates from Michigan and Wisconsin to the nation’s capital, relying on a haphazard chain of couriers, as well as help from two Republicans in Congress, to try to get the documents to then-Vice President Mike Pence while he presided over the Electoral College certification.

The operatives even considered chartering a jet to ensure the files reached Washington, DC, in time for the January 6, 2021, proceeding, according to emails and recordings obtained by CNN.

The new details provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the chaotic last-minute effort to keep Donald Trump in office. The fake electors scheme features prominently in special counsel Jack Smith’s criminal indictment against the former president, and some of the officials who were involved have spoken to Smith’s investigators.

    • platypus_plumba@lemmy.world
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      The crazy thing is that they still have millions of followers after these events come to light. If I saw any politician I like do anything remotely close to this, I’d instantly change my mind.

      I guess this is where the lack of neurons instantly trigger the reptilian “fake news” and “Joespiracy” response.

      • chingadera@lemmy.world
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        It is, indeed. Even crazier to think just how bad they are at an attempted dictatorship and still having faith that they would carry out what their followers are expecting them to without also catastrophicly fucking that up once in complete power.

    • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
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      Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter to their voters. It will hopefully matter to enough independents and moderates.

    • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      caused by none other than his own appointee DeJoy, whose entire goal in the USPS is to dismantle it and privatize it… talk about reaping what you sow lol

      • Nix@merv.news
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        Yet he’s still holding the same position for some reason… its baffling he hasnt been replaced

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            Actually, Biden can’t directly appoint a new Postmaster General. He CAN, however, replace some of the board members that have that ability, though, which he has absolutely no valid reason not to do.

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              So in other words, he can do what is needed to fire DeJoy, but has chosen not to. The single extra step involved is not a reason not to, and satisfies no one who isn’t already seeking excuses.

              Biden is in a position to replace him. He won’t.

              • VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf
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                So in other words, he can do what is needed to fire DeJoy, but has chosen not to.

                Exactly.

                Biden is in a position to replace him. He won’t.

                Preaching to the choir, my man. I wasn’t disagreeing so much as correcting a detail of your otherwise accurate take 🙂

              • RunningInRVA@lemmy.world
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                Reports are the DeJoy and Biden are working really well together. Kind of fucked up, but better than before.

            • homesnatch@lemm.ee
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              Biden can only appoint board members when the term expires of an existing board member… He has appointed a few and they currently hold a majority but haven’t yet acted.

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        My USPS is normally quite good, and it was a drastic difference during that time. I’m so glad my state decided to also provide official drop boxes and a mechanism to track where my ballot is at any given time.

        • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          Yeah, my state too. I’m usually good about mailing my ballot two weeks before but I’ve been taking it to the county courthouse drop box instead.

  • Veedem@lemmy.world
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    I hope this is true so I can use it the next time my dad goes on some diatribe about how the democrats are ruining the country or how he couldn’t vote for any other than Trump in good faith.

    If this is true, everyone who continues to support him is outright against our country.

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      You think this is gonna change a single MAGA mind? Your dad will just put his fingers in his ears and chant fake news.

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        My brother, a Canadian who is socially liberal, economically conservative, and virtually apolitical thinks the fake elector thing is bs.

        He doesn’t care if it did or didn’t happen.

        I am not saying this to contradict you. I am supportive of your point. This is unlikely to even remote reach most people in a meaningful way, let alone die hard Trump fans that somehow think he’s a virile, brave, genius business person with big hands and an animal musk that Larry from Three’s Company would envy.

    • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
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      It’s just brain washing. They keep saying the Democrats are ruining the country and if you don’t vote for trump you won’t have a country. They say it over and over nonstop until people believe it. They say it on Fox News they say it on tweeter. And they encourage their peers to say it. It’s insane that it works so easily. I’m appalled and amazed at the same time.

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      If you click the article, you can hear recordings of this happening and read the emails where they plan it.

      It’s definitely true. Clear, unambiguous language is used throughout all evidence.

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        Audio recordings don’t mean shit to these fucks. They’ll just grab it by the pussy and toss it into their basket of deplorables where some, I assume, are good. The whole thing will blow over by Easter.

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      There’s so many smoking guns at this point you can field an army with them.

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        I think everyone is so bumfuzzled because they didn’t hide any of it. It was out in the open, live tweeting acts of treason. Smoking guns are really important when you didn’t watch them load the gun, aim the gun, and shoot the gun. We all saw the entire crime in real time, and it’s weird that justice is taking this long.

        • DrPop@lemmy.ml
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          But the president has immunity.

          The idea that a president is above the law is insane. Also ignorance of the law is not a get out of jail free card.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          The more significant the accused is, in terms of the survival of our democracy, the more ironclad and formality-adhering the prosecution must be.

          The wheels of justice turn slowly, and these cases are moving forward at a pretty solid clip. It’s not uncommon for a murder trial to take place a year-plus after an indictment, as an example.

          This will be analyzed much more closely than even a murder trial, so it is important to jump through every possible hoop.

          As for smoking guns, this evidence is a fucking Napoleonic battlefield of smoking guns.

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            I hear this a lot, but the longer these things take the more likely it is that the government will shift and simply decide “well, the cases haven’t gone anywhere so at the beheadst of the Republican president we’re shutting it down.”

            It’s good to be thorough, but being so thorough that a conclusion to the charges isn’t on the timescale of Trump’s political career (or even life tbh) makes the whole process a waste of time and money. There needs to be more initiative being taken or the whole process may be moot.

        • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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          And then they use the fact that they didn’t hide any of it as evidence that it couldn’t have been illegal.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        What smoking guns? There’s so much smoke I can’t see anything through it!

      • Riskable@programming.dev
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        Yes but right wing media does not cover these things and even worse: They give their audiences fresh, daily propaganda suggesting that crimes like this are no big deal (unless Democrats do them) and that the opposition will always seem so, so much worse than the worst Republican criminal.

        It’s the argument right wingers always fall back on when they’ve lost an argument or have run out of ways to change the topic: The other side is worst or “just as bad”. No. No they are not and objective reality proves this. There’s so, so many more criminal prosecutions and convictions of Republicans/conservatives in general than there are Democrats/liberals.

        Those on the right will claim the justice department is out to get Republicans yet law enforcement and the justice department itself have vastly more Republicans/conservatives. If there’s a crime to uncover on the Democrat side of things they are actively and wholeheartedly looking for it.

      • Compactor9679@lemm.ee
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        Yea, all the whatsapp messages and curruption its impressive!!! Why are there not riots in the streets with all his Son’s messages involving him and his family?

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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      Wonder what kind of lies and bullshit they’re going to throw at this one.

      Bog standard “plug their ears and scream FAKE NEWS” with a dash of “rules for thee, but not for me”.

    • gregorum@lemm.ee
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      Yeah, I’ll just throw it on this pile of other smoking guns we have here.

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    Two days before the January 6 insurrection, the Trump campaign’s plan to use fake electors to block President-elect Joe Biden from taking office faced a potentially crippling hiccup: The fake elector certificates from two critical battleground states were stuck in the mail

    Reminder that Trump’s Postmaster General sabotaged the post office’s handling capacity in order to interfere with absentee voting.

    • phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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      Yeah how come that everyone already has forgotten about that one? I remember people having problems with receiving critical medication (and that was just a ‘side effect’) because of this yet nobody’s talking about it anymore

      • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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        One of my biggest let downs with Biden is that he didn’t fire that DeJoy asshole in the first week. I get that his team doesn’t think he has authority, but they know there’s a reasonable argument that they do. They should just fire his ass and let it play out, the other side certainly would.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          The other side literally did that for a position they had no legal argument for until SCOTUS invented it for them.

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    Another opportunity to say all I really want is a plugin that replaces every instance of “Ron Johnson” with “That fucker, Ron Johnson.”

  • Don Escobar@lemmy.world
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    I’m going to need all you libtards to show me where on the constitution it says that crimes are illegal or that presidents can’t commit a lil treason every now and then

    Also, what’s taking so long to throw this shitbag in jail already

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      If SCOTUS rules that sitting presidents are immune from all crimes I want biden to just fucking chainsaw the cheeto in the face. Maybe that’d be a big enough object lesson for maga zombies, but probably not even then.

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        They’ve got quite the conundrum on their hands. Do they affirm the power of states and the presidency, and strengthen Democrats? Or do they weaken the power of states and the presidency, and weaken Republicans and Trump’s position? Or do they try to have the best of both worlds, and deepen their reputation as corrupt and become even more highly unpopular?

        I hope they’re really frustrated about this.

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    Everyone keeps talking about how Biden will likely win against Trump. I don’t disagree. Most of my concern is if Trump is allowed to run just how much more brazen him and his team will be.

    Not to mention how dangerous his supporters may become. Cults aren’t known for their logical and clear understanding.

    • Euphorazine@lemmy.world
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      The worst part, is the states that have proposed blocking trump from the ballot aren’t really swing states, so it will just embolden his supporters if he wins to be like “they tried to cheat and still lost!”

      Like, a state like Tennessee could not include Biden on the ballots and it wouldn’t change the outcome of the presidential election with how the electoral college votes are calculated.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      Sure but this time the National Guard’s reins aren’t held by someone hoping it succeeds. They’re going to need a lot more violence to get past security this time.

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      The cult failed even when Trump had power from within the White House and a corrupt US Attorney General. Much harder now when everyone is on guard and he has no executive power, fortunately.

      2020 was far more risky than 2024 in my opinion.

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    Hope that those with ties to this attempted insurrection get called for being traitors and be at least, banned yo get any work in government

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    I’m so sick of donnie diapers not only still walking around a free man, he might get back into power again.