Judge dismisses Nevada fake electors case against six Republicans
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- Judge Mary Kay Holthus dismissed the case Thursday against six Nevada Republicans accused of forgery and offering a false instrument for filing, ruling prosecutors failed to show the electors intended to deceive government officials into accepting their GOP certificate as real
- Holthus also found Nevada prosecutors failed to disclose exculpatory evidence to the grand jury, a separate legal deficiency beyond the intent question
- Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat running for governor, plans to appeal the ruling; defense attorney Richard Wright called the appeal "hasty" and "premature" and accused Ford of political motivation
- Defendants Michael McDonald (chair of the Nevada Republican Party) and Jesse Law (former chair of the Clark County Republican Party) were among the six who signed a certificate outside the Nevada Legislature giving the state's six electoral votes to Trump despite Biden winning by more than 30,000 votes
- Prosecutors had argued the certificate was meant to be mistaken for real electoral votes that then-VP Mike Pence would count on Jan. 6, 2021; the defendants said the ceremony was "political theater" to preserve their right to challenge results
- Similar fake elector cases in Arizona, Michigan, and Georgia have also been dismissed; Arizona AG Kris Mayes plans to refile before a new grand jury after losing an appeal, and a Wisconsin case remains ongoing
Why it matters: Ford's office now faces an appellate uphill battle to revive the case before Nevada's courts, while the defense's accusation of political motivation raises the stakes of the appeal beyond ordinary legal procedure. With three other swing-state cases already dead and a federal case against Trump dropped after his 2024 win, Nevada's dismissal further narrows the already-shrinking window of criminal accountability for the 2020 fake-elector scheme.
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