Trump’s plan began with an effort to persuade Republican officials in the targeted states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — to help draft, or put their names on, documents listing the Mr Trump was declared the winner.
That effort was largely led by lawyers close to Mr. Trump, such as Rudolph W. Giuliani and John Eastman, who sometimes communicated directly with local contact points in the state, or by lawyers who worked in the states themselves and interacted with Mr. Giuliani. had to make. , Mr. Eastman or with Mr. Trump’s campaign staff.
Their stated rationale was that Mr. Biden’s victories in those states would be negated once they could prove their claims of widespread vote fraud and other irregularities, and that it only made sense to have the “alternative” electoral rolls for that possibility.
But, as Mr. Trump had been told by his campaign staff and eventually even his attorney general, there were no legitimate claims of fraud sufficient to alter the outcome of the race, and the seven states all affirmed Mr Biden’s victory. at the Electoral College on December Mr. Trump and his allies went ahead with the voter plan nonetheless, with an increasing focus on using the January 6 ceremonial congressional certification process to derail the transfer of power.
In the end, several dozen of Mr. Trump’s allies in the states signed false voter lists, and most were unequivocal in their claim that Mr. Trump had won. But in Pennsylvania and New Mexico, local officials who drafted the documents issued a warning, saying they should only be considered if Mr. Trump triumphed in the many lawsuits he and his allies had filed against the election, and legally the winner. used to be.
Once the false pro-Trump slates were made, Mr. Trump and his allies turned to the second part of the plan: the heavily armed Mr. Pence to consider them at the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. mr. Convincing Pence to say that the election was somehow flawed or questionable.