Tapes show final GOP fake elector push on Jan. 6
Documents sent to Sen. Johnson as crowd massed at U.S. Capitol
U.S. Capitol security tapes - made public by House Republicans - have finally answered the question of how fake GOP elector documents from Wisconsin and Michigan were passed on to the office of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Jan. 6.
The video shows GOP aides handing off those documents at the same time that supporters of Donald Trump were beginning to surround the U.S. Capitol. They all had the same goal on Jan. 6 - to keep Trump in power.
Security videos from Jan. 6 show (left) a staffer from the office of Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) walking with fake elector documents from Michigan and Wisconsin. That aide handed off the documents across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court to a woman (right), who walked back to the Hart Senate Office Building, home to the office of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI). Minutes later, Johnson’s office tried to get the documents to Vice President Mike Pence.
FINAL SCRAMBLE
The Trump campaign was running out of time. 90 minutes before a Joint Session of Congress was to convene on Jan. 6, 2021, allies of Donald Trump were still trying to get fake GOP elector documents to Vice President Mike Pence, in a scheme to keep Trump in office despite his 2020 election loss.
Unable to get the materials to Pence a day earlier - when the Senate Parliamentarian refused to accept a pair of fake GOP elector envelopes from Wisconsin and Michigan - Trump supporters turned to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) for help.
"We need to get a document on the Wisconsin electors to you for the VP immediately," Wisconsin GOP lawyer Jim Troupis texted Sen. Johnson at 11:36 am ET. Johnson soon connected his Chief of Staff, Sean Riley, with Troupis.
KELLY ENCORE
On Jan. 6, the Wisconsin and Michigan fake GOP documents were in the office of Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), whose staffers had been unable to deliver them to Pence a day earlier. At 12:12 pm, one of the same Kelly aides was sent out with the documents again.
Security video shows the Kelly staffer (circled in yellow) walking out of the Longworth House Office Building, carrying the same two fake elector envelopes that he was given on Jan. 5 by Kenneth Chesebro, the legal architect of the fake elector scheme.
Instead of trying again to deliver the certificates to the Senate Parliamentarian, security cameras show the Kelly staffer walking around the perimeter of the Capitol grounds, past the Library of Congress, and towards the U.S. Supreme Court. He stops across from the Court at 12:18 pm.
SENATE SIDE
At the same time, a Senate staffer was making her way out of the Hart Senate Office Building, where the office of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is located.
This woman exits at 12:13 pm, walks down Constitution Avenue, turns on First Street, and a few minutes later stops in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. (Visual note - at this point, she is not carrying anything in her hands.)
THE HANDOFF
At 12:19 pm, the woman walks across the street to meet the Kelly aide - and the fake GOP elector documents are handed over.
Heading back to his office, the Kelly staffer is now empty-handed, while the woman can be seen carrying the two envelopes with the fake elector documents. It was 12:20 pm. The Joint Session would convene in 40 minutes.
BACK TO HART. It took only a few minutes for the woman to walk back to the Hart Senate Office Building, now carrying the fake GOP elector documents.
When she goes through security, you can clearly see the same two envelopes carried by the staffer from the office of Rep. Kelly - one is a white FedEx envelope, the other a manila business envelope. That’s exactly what Chesebro handed off on Jan. 5.
CLOCK IS TICKING
The cameras don’t show where this woman goes after she gets through security at 12:25 pm - and Johnson’s press office did not answer emails asking if this woman was one of his staffers.
But we know that 12 minutes later, the Chief of Staff to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sean Riley, was texting a top aide to Vice President Pence, asking how to get the fake documents to Pence.
"Johnson needs to hand something to VPOTUS please advise," Riley texted at 12:37 pm to Chris Hodgson, the top legislative aide to Pence. Hodgson wanted to know what Johnson had. "Alternate slate of electors for MI and WI," Riley replied.
"Do not give that to him," Hodgson shot back.
Two minutes after that Riley-Hodgson text exchange, Sen. Johnson is seen heading underground to the Capitol. Security video shows the Wisconsin Republican is carrying a folder with what seems to be a manila envelope sticking out.
As he walked to the House chamber for the Joint Session, security tapes show that Johnson is carrying that folder in his right hand.
There are multiple security camera shots which have a much clearer depiction of Johnson and what he was carrying on Jan. 6 - but that footage has not been publicly released by House Republicans.
We already know that by 1 pm on Jan. 6, Johnson had either tried to hand over the fake elector documents, or was directly told it could not happen.
"Johnson cannot give the certificate we got to him to the VP because it is not sealed," Troupis texted Kenneth Chesebro at 1:02 pm. "Someone opened it!"
Troupis then forwarded a text from the Senator himself: "We have been informed the VP cannot accept any unsealed mail and I cannot hand it to him."
The effort to get the fake GOP elector documents from Michigan and Wisconsin to Pence had failed.
Outside the Capitol, the violence of Jan. 6 was just starting to unfold. By 1 pm, Trump supporters had already started skirmishing with police, overturning barricades and rushing to the base of the steps on the West Front.
The goal of the fake elector scheme and the goal of Trump supporters outside the Capitol was the same - to keep Donald Trump in office. You can see both stories play out in the Jan. 6 security tapes.
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Holy Shit.
"Do not give that to him," Hodgson shot back.
And yet, he had it. Lock Johnson up!
This is some stunning minute-by-minute reporting. Great work, Mr. Dupree. I hope it gains traction with other news outlets.