At least two more fake electors have been subpoenaed in special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into former President Donald Trump's attempts to challenge and overturn the 2020 election results, NBC News reported.
The electors are scheduled to appear in early August before the grand jury in Washington, marking their first testimony, a source told the outlet.
These individuals were part of groups of fake electors operating in seven battleground states. Most of them signed documents falsely claiming that Trump had won in states won by President Joe Biden.
Numerous witnesses have already testified before the Washington-based grand jury as part of the investigation, including two electors from Nevada who appeared before the same grand jury last month.
For months now, Smith's team has been conducting an investigation into Trump's elaborate plan to remain in the White House even after losing the election. This scheme ultimately led to his supporters violently attacking the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The special counsel's office has interviewed multiple former officials inquiring about Trump's state of mind prior to the election and asked witnesses about Trump retaliating against officials, who challenged his narrative concerning election security.
Investigators have also interviewed Chris Krebs, the head of DHS's cyber agency, who was fired by Trump shortly after releasing a statement in November that confirmed there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
"The special counsel appears to be investigating what President Trump said and did in private to further show that Trump's public statements and actions about election fraud were not borne out of good faith or [an] honest mistake," Temidayo Aganga-Williams, white-collar partner at Selendy Gay Elsberg and former senior investigative counsel for the House Jan. 6 committee, told Salon.
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Now, the Department of Justice has also reached an agreement with Bernie Kerik, the former NYPD commissioner involved in gathering evidence of alleged election fraud on behalf of the Trump campaign in 2020, according to The Daily Beast.
Kerik will hand over records that were related to his role as Trump's "on-the-ground investigator looking into eventually disproven conspiracy theories about ballot stuffing and fake voters," The Beast reported.
In February 2020, then-President Trump granted Kerik a full pardon, effectively nullifying his 2010 conviction on eight felony charges related to tax fraud and providing false information to federal officials. Following his conviction, Kerik served almost three years in prison before being released in 2013.
When Smith previously requested the documents, Kerik's legal team had refused to hand them over, citing attorney-client privilege. They argued that the privilege applied because Kerik was working on behalf of Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
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On Friday though, Trump waived the privilege and agreed to have the documents turned over, Kerik's defense lawyer Timothy Parlatore told The Beast.
Smith is now anticipated to receive close to 2,000 pages of material documenting Kerik's examination of unfounded fraud claims and his team is expected to interview Kerik next month.
The files include affidavits alleging extensive "irregularities," questionable statistical analyses claiming to expose "fraudulent activities" and investigative materials concerning a senior employee of Dominion Voting Systems, according to CNN.
These records could be crucial for federal prosecutors, as they seek evidence regarding Trump's decision-making process, during which he persistently made groundless allegations about the 2020 election being "rigged," despite being informed otherwise by top advisers.
"Trump's persistent disregard of evidence contrary to his election fraud claims will be essential to demonstrate Trump was acting in bad faith," Aganga-Williams said.
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