Heading into Donald Trump‘s arrest in Georgia, behind-the-scenes report claimed that the former president was particularly “nervous” about the numerous defendants in the indictment turning on him. Well, at least three of them already have.
Georgia Republicans David Shafer, Shawn Still, and Cathleen Latham have told prosecutors that they acted as fake electors for Trump because he was the “incumbent president” and ordered them to do so.
Via Politico:
In a series of court filings this week, those false electors, who became part of Trump’s last-ditch bid to subvert the 2020 election, said it was Trump and his campaign lawyers who urged them to sign the false documents, claiming they were necessary to preserve Trump’s flailing court efforts to reverse his defeat to Joe Biden. That exhortation from Trump’s campaign lawyers, they said, amounted to federal government permission to take the actions they did.
Still’s attorney threw Trump under the bus during a court appearance on Thursday.
“Mr. Still, as a presidential elector, was also acting at the direction of the incumbent president of the United States,” his attorney said. “The president’s attorneys instructed Mr. Still and the other contingent electors that they had to meet and cast their ballots on Dec. 14, 2020.”
According to inside sources, Trump has been extremely concerned about defendants flipping on him and his public bravado doesn’t match his demeanor behind closed doors.
“He’s not so confident anymore,” an insider told Page Six. “He’s not acting so cocky anymore. He’s not lashing out so much. The arrogance is gone.”
(Via Politico)