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Cheney: Pro-Trump lawyer who pushed to overturn 2020 election knew fake electors lacked power

Bogus Electoral College certificates claiming that former President Donald Trump won certain states like Arizona were behind one argument made that former Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the 2020 election.

How a Trump ally wanted to use the fake certificates was key in Thursday’s hearing by the House Select Committee probing the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The fake certificates from Arizona and other states were raised by committee member Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) while she questioned a witness.

Cheney said a conservative lawyer close to Trump relied on the certificates to argue that Pence could simply declare Trump winner of the 2020 election.

Cheney later said that argument by attorney John Eastman went against what he said days earlier. 

“Dr. Eastman himself admitted in an email that the fake electors had no legal weight, referring to the fake electors as dead on arrival in Congress,” she said. 

The Jan. 6 committee has subpoenaed three signers of the Arizona certificate, including state GOP Chair Kelli Ward.

Matthew Casey has won Edward R. Murrow awards for hard news and sports reporting since he joined KJZZ as a senior field correspondent in 2015.