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It was just last month when state prosecutors in Arizona indicted 18 Republicans as part of the party’s fake-elector scheme from 2020, resulting in allegations of conspiracy, fraud and forgery. Among those charged was GOP state Sen. Jake Hoffman, who soon after received some more pleasant news:
Two days after Hoffman was charged, the Arizona Republican Party thought it’d be a good idea to elevate the state senator to the Republican National Committee — leaving little doubt that the party simply didn’t much care about the criminal indictment issued 48 hours earlier.
The Arizona Republic’s Laurie Roberts soon after summarized in a column: “The Arizona Republican Party on Saturday sent a flat out, full-throated, flabbergasting message to the voters of this great state. We be crazy, they proclaimed.”
Two weeks later, it appears a related problem has spread to one of Arizona’s neighbors. The Las Vegas Sun reported:
Five of the six Nevada Republican Party officials accused of submitting “fake elector” ballots in a scheme to swing the 2020 presidential election for Donald Trump will be delegates to this summer’s Republican National Convention; two of them have also been nominated to be among the party’s presidential electors for Nevada.
In case anyone’s forgotten, it was late last year when six Republicans were indicted in Nevada, each of whom served as fake electors for Trump after his 2020 defeat. Six months later, five of the six people charged — including Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald and Vice Chairman Jim Hindle — were chosen as delegates to their party’s upcoming national convention in Milwaukee.
McDonald and Clark County Republican chairman Jesse Law, who was included in the December indictment, were also chosen by the state party to serve as actual presidential electors this year in the event that the GOP ticket prevails.
Common sense might suggest that the criminal charges would make these Republicans politically radioactive. And yet, in Nevada as in Arizona, state party officials appear wholly unmoved by the indictment.
“Clearly, lessons learned,” The Nevada Independent’s Jon Ralston said sarcastically in response to this week’s news.
Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Tai Sims added, “It should not come as a shock to anyone that Nevada Republicans nominated indicted fake electors to be their 2024 presidential electors. Republicans have spent the last four years relentlessly spreading dangerous election conspiracy theories that threaten the basic functions of democracy.”
The indicted GOP officials in Nevada have pleaded not guilty. Their cases are expected to go to trial early next year.