A Trump campaign staffer instructed a group of Republicans in Georgia who were planning to cast Electoral College votes for former President Trump to conduct the plan in “complete secrecy,” according to an email obtained by media outlets.
The Washington Post and CNN reported Monday evening that the email, written by Trump campaign Georgia operations director Robert Sinners, instructed the fake electors to tell security at the state capitol that they had appointments with two state senators.
“I must ask for your complete discretion in this process,” Sinners wrote.
“Your duties are imperative to ensure the end result — a win in Georgia for President Trump — but will be hampered unless we have complete secrecy and discretion,” Sinners wrote.
The Post reported that the email was sent on Dec. 13, 2020, and instructed the electors not to “mention anything to do with Presidential Electors or speak to the media.”
The Hill has reached out to a representative for Trump and to the former president’s campaign for comment.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in January that the Department of Justice was investigating fake electors who supported Trump.
Fake documents were sent to the National Archives in December alleging electors for the Electoral College supported Trump in seven states President Biden had won.
People from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have since been subpoenaed to appear before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack for their involvement with the alleged scheme.
The Jan. 6 committee is likely to highlight the newly uncovered email by a former Trump campaign staffer to fake electors during a prime-time hearing on Thursday, the Post noted.
Sinners said in a statement that he was working on behalf of senior campaign officials and senior Republicans in the state and was “advised by attorneys that this was necessary in order to preserve the pending legal challenge,” according to the Post.
Attorneys for Trump had for months after the 2020 election embarked on an ineffective legal campaign across the country in an attempt to overturn Biden’s victory, which ultimately failed.
Sinners now works for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), who recently fended off a Trump-backed primary challenger after Raffensperger refused to take up the former president’s effort to overturn the presidential election in the state, and he added that his “views on the matter have changed significantly from where they were on December 13th.”