Nevada GOP chairman hit with subpoena in probe of bogus electors scheme
Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald has been drawn further into the Justice Department’s investigation into a bogus electors scheme tied to the 2020 presidential race, a knowledgeable source said.
FBI agents seized McDonald’s cellphone on Wednesday under a court-approved search warrant, and one day later he was served with a federal grand jury subpoena for documents.
The subpoena seeks records of any communications with top political advisers of former President Donald Trump, the source said. Those associates are alleged to have participated in a conspiracy to block Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden.
The list of names on the subpoena include Trump lawyers Rudy Guiliani and John Eastman, who have come under scrutiny by both the Justice Department and a House select committee investigating the efforts to prevent Congress from declaring Biden the winner on Jan. 6, 2021. Pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol that day, delaying the process.
McDonald, who has a couple of weeks to provide the documents to the government, is among a half-dozen Nevada Republicans who participated in the December 2020 signing of alternate electoral vote certificates in the presidential race.
The Justice Department also subpoenaed records this week from the other Republican electors, the source said.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington D.C., which is spearheading the criminal investigation, has declined comment. So has McDonald’s Las Vegas lawyer Richard Wright.
Illegitimate electors from Nevada and six other states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — all sent certificates to Washington. Biden won all seven states.
Federal agents in recent days also served subpoenas on the Republican Party chairmen of Arizona and Georgia, according to the Associated Press.
The scheme is alleged to have been part of the overall effort to prevent a peaceful transition of power after Biden was elected president. The alternate electoral slates stemmed from unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564. Follow @JGermanRJ on Twitter.
