adequate substitutes for those who refused to attend, and actually coordinating the unrecognized elector signing ceremonies in seven States on December 14th.[77] In all seven States, these efforts to mobilize fake electors benefitted from support from the RNC, as well as the State Republican parties.[78] However, it was the Trump team who drove the process from start to finish, as one of the fake electors and later co-chair of the Michigan Republican party, Meshawn Maddock, told an audience in January 2022: "We fought to seat the electors. The Trump campaign asked us to do that."[79]
3.4 SOME OF THE PROPOSED FAKE ELECTORS EXPRESS CONCERNS ABOUT THE PLAN
The Trump team's fake elector plan raised concerns not just for several senior officials but also for some of the Republican activists being recruited to be the fake electors. Findlay told the Select Committee that "there were definitely electors in probably most of the States that had concerns about this process."[80] After being tasked with reaching out to the potential fake electors, Findlay notified his colleagues on December 10th that "a lot of questions are arising" from them.[81] He also noted that an RNC staffer seconded to the Trump Victory Committee "requested a call with the PA electors and/or leadership to address concerns," which "may be necessary to get people to appear."[82]
The Republican Party of Pennsylvania's general counsel relayed several specific concerns to the Trump Campaign via email on December 13th. Warning that "[w]e're all getting call [sic] from concerned Electors," he elaborated as follows:
I'm told that on the call with the Electors they were told that the Ballot form would be conditioned upon ultimate certification by the Governor, indemnification by the campaign if someone gets sued or worse, (charged with something by the AG or someone else), and the receipt by the Electors of a legal opinion by a national firm and certified to be accurate by a Pa. lawyer.
What was sent was a "memo" by Chesebro not addressed to the Electors, and no certification by a Pa. lawyer. To make it worse, Chesebro describes the Pa. plan as "dicey". And there's no indication by anyone with authority that there's any indemnification authorized by the campaign.[83]
Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Lawrence Tabas informed the Select Committee that his State's fake electors never were indemnified by the Trump Campaign.[84]
