Trump Campaign Aide Among 14 ‘Alternate Electors’ Subpoenaed By January 6 Committee
The list also included multiple local Republican Party officials.
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Lisa Vranicar Patton, who identifies herself as the Pennsylvania state events director for former President Trump’s 2020 campaign on Linkedin, is one of 14 people who received subpoenas on Friday due to their alleged involvement in a plan to send the electoral college “false slates” of “alternate electors” supporting Trump in seven key swing states that were actually won by President Joe Biden.
The group received the subpoenas from the House select committee investigating the attack at the U.S. Capitol that took place on January 6, 2021 as President Biden’s election victory over Trump was certified. In addition to Patton, the committee sent subpoenas to multiple local Republican Party officials who allegedly played a part in the “alternate electors” plan.
“The Select Committee is seeking information about attempts in multiple states to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including the planning and coordination of efforts to send false slates of electors to the National Archives,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the chairman of the select committee, said in a statement about the subpoenas. “We believe the individuals we have subpoenaed today have information about how these so-called alternate electors met and who was behind that scheme.”
The committee ordered the individuals to turn over documents by February 11 and to appear for depositions between February 11 and 28. The subpoenas also outlined the contours of the alleged “alternate electors” plan and described a meeting of people involved in the plot.
“You were a purported Electoral College elector who met with other purported electors on or about December 14, 2020 to cast votes for former President Trump and former Vice President Pence despite the fact that your state had made a final determination that Joseph Biden, Jr. and Kamala Harris were the winners of the November 2020 presidential election and the appointment of their electors had been certified,” the subpoenas stated. “The existence of these purported alternate-elector votes was used as a justification to delay or block the certification of the election during the Joint Session of Congress on January 6, 2021.”
According to the statement from the committee announcing the subpoenas, Patton was the “secretary” for the alternate slate of electors in Pennsylvania. Patton did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
On a Facebook page that appears to belong to her, Patton, who also worked with Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election, posted multiple photos showing contact with high-level members of Trump’s inner circle including the former president’s son, Eric, and ex-White House officials Sarah Sanders and Omarosa Manigault. Her social media posts also indicated she had contacts with leading members of Trump’s effort to overturn his loss.
In a message posted to Twitter on December 4, 2020, Patton posted pictures indicating she attended a private holiday party where she met former Vice President Mike Pence at his official residence. Eight days earlier, Patton made a post indicating she had just spent “the day” with former New York City Police Department Commissioner Bernard Kerik and Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), one of the Republican members of Congress who voted to overturn Biden’s victory on January 6. Kerik has attracted the interest of the House select committee for his work with Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani and their presence in a so-called “command center” at the luxe Willard Hotel in D.C., where Trump allies worked on plans to sway the election on January 6.
Patton’s social media pages included posts that urged Trump supporters to “hold the line” in the aftermath of Biden’s victory. In one tweet, Patton tagged Trump and his campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis, who helped lead his efforts to challenge the election, alongside a picture of a chess board. Using the motto of the World Chess Federation and hashtags, Patton implied the defeated president’s team was playing “4D” chess and would ultimately emerge victorious.
“Good times ahead,” Patton wrote.
On Friday evening, after news broke about the subpoenas and The Uprising reached out to her for comment, Patton locked her Twitter page.
According to a detailed report from CNN that was published earlier this month, Trump campaign officials “led by” Giuliani “oversaw” the fake electors plot. Trump offered public support for the idea, which CNN described as “integral” to the former president’s hope that Pence would reject Biden’s electors and replace them with Republican alternatives during the certification of the vote. Pence ultimately did not go along with the plan. In that report, CNN noted that “it's not clear that any of the fake electors themselves participated in strategy sessions with top Trump campaign brass.” However, two of the alternate electors from Pennsylvania who were not among the leadership subpoenaed by the committee told CNN they were “in direct contact with members of the Trump campaign.”
Patton’s alleged role in the plan provides further indication of the Trump campaign’s involvement in the plot to install alternate electors. A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a request for comment. The 14 subpoenas also pointed at Republican Party officials, including Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, who were allegedly part of the plan.
According to the House select committee’s statement, subpoenas were sent to “individuals listed as chairperson and secretary of each group of alternate electors” in documents sent to the National Archives. The alternate electors came from Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, and New Mexico. Twelve of the people subpoenaed by the committee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Both of the alleged alternate electors from New Mexico declined to comment when reached by The Uprising. Jewll Powdrell, an Albuquerque area businessman, told The Uprising he had not received a subpoena and had “no comment.” Maestas, who has served as chairwoman of the New Mexico GOP, referred all requests to the party organization.
“If you want to call the state party, the state GOP, they can answer your questions,” Maestas said.
The Uprising reached out to New Mexico Republican Party Communications Director Mike Curtis. He did not, in fact, answer questions.
“We don’t comment on pending investigations,” Curtis said. “That’s all I can tell you.”
Here are some more of the pictures I came across while working on this story:
https://twitter.com/hunterw/status/1487603924420993026
The PA false electors story adds another layer to the Bucks county story. I saw these documents within minutes of their late evening release and saw the signature of PP. It was a jolt and invigorating because this wasn’t merely documented link but a massive revelation that confirms the efforts in PAs most pivotal county to be more than just the ill advised freelancing of an overzealous yet innocuous donor / power broker.
Unfortunately, with the exception of Mr. Walker no one has reported in any detail of PA 1. Also unfortunate, there is little local reporting and none that is critical. My speculation is the local reporting is actually the opposite of critical reporting(I would qualify this speculation as informed and of which I have high confidence in…. but nonetheless must be called speculation).
With the amount of the documentation and evidence(which is disproportionately represented by primary source accounts in the form of social media and recorded media interviews) I naively believed interest slowly increase among regional/national media as well as political adversaries and perhaps some special interest and/or advocacy groups. Especially because PA 1 being one of the deepest purple swing districts in the country and from a electoral college perspective is one of the most important counties/districts in one of the most critical swing states.
Maybe it’s just another example of information overload. I mean the as corrosive and unethical as it is, the Bannonites tactical strategy of flooding the zone is effective. But then again maybe there’s some fraction of truth to insiders barroom gossip(see: conspiracy theories) of the district being unofficially non-contested.