- A Justice Department official told CNN the agency is investigating an effort to send fake Electoral College certificates.
- At least seven states sent bogus certificates to the National Archives.
- Democratic lawmakers and other officials previously called for an investigation.
The Justice Department has confirmed that it is investigating post-2020 election efforts to send fake Electoral College certificates to Washington as a way to further President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the election by declaring him the winner of some key states that he lost.
"We've received those referrals. Our prosecutors are looking at those and I can't say anything more on ongoing investigations," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told CNN.
This is the first time the DOJ has commented on requests from lawmakers and other officials to probe the fake certificate effort, CNN reported. Based on public statements at the time, the effort appeared aimed at derailing Congress' work counting and certifying legitimate Electoral College results.
American Oversight, a watchdog group, has said it obtained copies of seven fake certificates that would have declared Trump the winner of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Former Trump campaign officials previously told The Washington Post that Rudy Giuliani oversaw the effort to send these certificates.
Like the legitimate certificates, the bogus ones were also sent to the National Archives. The archives act as a middle-man, collecting all the certificates before Congress formally accepts them and then counts the vote. This traditionally perfunctory action was set to occur on January 6, 2021, when the insurrection derailed the counting process for hours before lawmakers returned late that night to finish their job.
If prosecutors find that the false certificates were created with the intent of undermining the election results, those who participated in the effort could be charged with falsifying voting documents, mail fraud, or potentially a conspiracy to defraud the US, The New York Times reported.
As The Post points out, many of these efforts were previously known and done rather publicly. Republicans in six states sent these certificates to Washington with the hope that a future court challenge would throw out President Joe Biden's respective victories.
Rep. Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat, and other lawmakers previously called on the Justice Department to investigate the matter.
"Enough people kept bringing it up. If people think they can get away with some scam, they'll try another and another," Pocan told The New York Times last week.