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Trump ‘Fake Electors’ Prosecution in Nevada Dismissed by Court

Zoe Tillman

21 June 2024 at 5:06 pm·1-min read

(Bloomberg) -- A Nevada state judge on Friday dismissed charges against six individuals involved in the false certification of former President Donald Trump as the winner of the state’s 2020 presidential election.

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Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus, who sits in Las Vegas, found that the Nevada attorney general’s office had brought the case in the wrong state jurisdiction. The judge announced her decision from the bench. A written order was not immediately available but a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office confirmed the decision.

The attorney general’s office disagrees with the ruling and plans to immediately appeal, said spokesperson John Sadler.

The Nevada defendants included Michael McDonald, the chair of the state Republican party, and Jim DeGraffenreid, the state GOP’s national committeeman. George Kelesis, an attorney for DeGraffenreid, said they believe the judge’s ruling was correct. Lawyers for the other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The December indictment charged the pro-Trump electors with felony counts for offering a false record and forgery. Nevada was one of seven states where Republican electors met on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign false certifications that Trump had won. That same day, the official Electoral College voted to confirm President Joe Biden’s win.

A trial in the Nevada case had been scheduled for January 2025.

There are pending prosecutions against pro-Trump electors who signed similar false certifications in Arizona, Georgia and Michigan. Trump faces an indictment in Georgia for his efforts to overturn the election but hasn’t been charged in the other state elector cases.

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