'Dangerous and scary': Trump’s fake electors hold real power in key states

More than two dozen of Donald Trump's fake electors continue to hold positions of real power in key states.

Republicans in seven battleground states won by Joe Biden in 2020 offered slates of 84 phony electors who had signed certificates claiming to be "duly elected," in a scheme that even Trump's own White House counsel warned was possibly illegal, but at least 23 of them still hold leadership positions in their state GOP while others remain in legislative office or are seeking election, reported NBC News.

“It’s really distressing that many of them are still heavily involved,” said attorney Jeff Mandell, who is suing over Wisconsin's 10 false electors. "These people violated the most fundamental idea of how our democracy works, and there shouldn’t be a place for them at this point in our political life and the public square."

Mandell's lawsuit alleges that Trump and his allies intended to use the false electors to pressure Mike Pence to help steal the presidential election, and federal authorities have subpoenaed numerous individuals who signed the phony certificates or were involved in the scheme, including Mike Roman, who directed the Trump campaign's Election Day operations.

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“It’s dangerous and scary,” Mandell said. “We’re closing on it being two full years since this has happened, and there’s only small and sporadic efforts toward accountability.”

Three phony electors -- Michael McDonald in Nevada, Kelly Ward in Arizona and David Shafer in Georgia -- are the chairs of their state Republican Parties, while state Sen. Burt Jones is the GOP nominee for Georgia lieutenant governor, and nine fake electors work for Michigan's state GOP.

“When it’s tolerated by the entire party, and in fact, the vast majority of the party is pushing the same lie, it creates an environment in which accountability is very difficult,” said longtime Republican Sarah Longwell, executive director of the anti-Trump Republican Accountability Project. “The only way for anybody to end the collective illusion is for Republicans to say, ‘This is nonsense.’ We basically need 20 other Liz Cheneys in the Republican Party.”