Ex-U.S. District Court clerk: 'Significant evidence' that fake electors knew 'Trump had definitely lost'

Joshua Stanton, a former clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, said there’s “ significant evidence” that Arizona’s fake electors “were aware that [former President Donald] Trump had definitely lost,” the Arizona Republic reports.

In an article published Tuesday, Arizona Republic reporter Ryan Randazzo spoke with Stanton, who offered insight on the potential legal jeopardy the state’s fake electors face.

“There is significant evidence that a lot of these false electors it seems across the country were aware that Trump had definitely lost, that his litigation attempts were bogus, and that this was really being used as part of an effort, an illegal effort, to overturn the election," Stanton, current counsel at Perry Law, said.

Randazzo reports:

[Stanton] said prosecuting the electors might depend on what they were told by people working with Trump to overturn the election, and whether they thought they were only to be used if the elections in those states were overturned by the courts for some reason. They in fact were used even though court challenges to overturn the state elections all failed.

“If the false electors, when they signed that form, honestly believed that (they would only be used if the GOP won in court), then it seems likely that they didn’t do anything wrong,” Stanton said. “It would be hard to actually prosecute them.”

“Even if the false electors themselves maybe potentially avoid liability, there are a number of people at the higher levels that could face charges in Arizona,” Stanton added, noting the “folks who maybe misled them” may be the ones “who could end up getting indicted.”

Stanton referenced an email from Arizona lawyer Jack Wilenchik, who the New York Times reports “helped organize the pro-Trump electors in Arizona.” In that email, Wilenchik used the word “fake” before later writing “‘alternative’ votes is probably a better term than ‘fake’ votes.”

In a Dec. 8, 2020 email to Trump campaign strategist Boris Epshteyn, Wilenchik wrote:

We would just be sending in ‘fake’ electoral votes to Pence so that ‘someone’ in Congress can make an objection when they start counting votes, and start arguing that the ‘fake’ votes should be counted.

Asked about the emails by the Arizona Republic, Wilenchik claimed “there is no crime I can even conceive of here.”

"I believed then and I believe now it is completely legal, as do a number of legal scholars," Wilenchik said.