Fake electors investigation now involves western PA Rs

[Deminpenn]

First, Ron Johnson threw Mike Kelly (R-PA 16) under the bus claiming the fake elector letters for MI and WI to be passed to Pence originated with Kelly. Kelly, of course, denies it.

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-nation/2022/06/23/mike-kelly-ron-johnson-fake-electors-jan-6-committee-donald-trump-pennsylvania-election-results/stories/202206230142

Second, the FBI interviewed the Allegheney Co GOP chairman Sam DeMarco about the fake electors. They also searched his home and issued him a supoena. To his credit, DeMarco actually pushed back on Trump's claim of fraud in PA.

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-local/2022/06/23/allegheny-county-republican-gop-chairman-sam-demarco-council-jan-6-election-overturn-fbi-subpoena-fake-electors/stories/202206230120

[Probatim]

1. I wouldn't be surprised to see Doug Mastriano involved in this as well.

He was at the Capitol that day.

[Deminpenn]

2. He was the lead legislator in the "hearing" featuring

Giuiliani and company going on about fraud in PA, too.

But further down in the story about DeMarco, Josh Shapiro is quoted as saying because the PA Rs insisted on adding language saying they were only electors if courts ruled for Trump and there were no more appeals possible, they avoided being liable for forgery, etc. None of the other fake elector letters, except NM, had that hedging language.

[UpInArms]

3. I don't think the "hedging" language will save them

If those certificates were somewhere to be presented

[Deminpenn]

4. Maybe not from the Feds,

but Shapiro thinks it does at least enough that he, as PA Atty Gen, can't prosecute it.

[FakeNoose]

5. According to Sam DeMarco, he signed the PA elector sheet

From the same OP link:

In Pennsylvania, they would gather just a few blocks from the capitol, in the offices of Quantum Communications, a political consulting firm run by Trump elector Charlie Gerow (Mr. Gerow and fellow Trump elector Lou Barletta would later run unsuccessfully for the 2022 GOP nomination for governor).

It was a cold, snowy morning as Mr. DeMarco walked to his car and made the nearly four-hour drive to Harrisburg.

“I didn’t want to go,” Mr. DeMarco said.

He’d already angered many in his party by disputing the conspiracy theories and outright falsehoods about a stolen election that were being peddled by Mr. Trump and his allies. Mr. DeMarco, an Allegheny County councilman and member of the county Elections Board, had heard the complaints, but he’d also seen the evidence.

“I had to come out and say I saw no widespread fraud,” Mr. DeMarco said.

After pulling up to Mr. Gerow’s office on State Street, Mr. DeMarco sat in his car for awhile, the stately green dome of the Pennsylvania Capitol looming just to the northeast. When the meeting’s 10:45 a.m. start time rolled around, he went inside, exchanged pleasantries with a few people, signed his name on the sheet of electors, grabbed one of the sandwich rolls that had been laid out for the group, and walked back outside.

“And I got back into my car and went home.”

(link) https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-local/2022/06/23/allegheny-county-republican-gop-chairman-sam-demarco-council-jan-6-election-overturn-fbi-subpoena-fake-electors/stories/202206230120

The FBI agents just paid a call on Mr. DeMarco yesterday. He says he didn't believe there was any election fraud, so why did he sign the sheet of fake electors?