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Feds looking at fake 2020 elector certificates for potential criminal charges, DOJ official says

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department is weighing whether to press criminal charges over fake Electoral College certifications in the 2020 election, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told CNN on Tuesday.

“Our prosecutors are looking at those and I can’t say anything more about ongoing investigations," Monaco told CNN.

Disputes about state electors were at the heart of former President Donald Trump’s attempt to thwart the counting of Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob ransacked the Capitol and temporarily halted the count.

The Justice Department has charged more than 725 people with participating in the Jan. 6 attack. A House committee is investigating Trump's role in the riot because he spoke at a rally near the White House before his supporters laid siege to the Capitol.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco speaks to The Associated Press during an interview at the Department of Justice in Washington on Nov. 2, 2021. Two suspected hackers accused of ransomware attacks resulting in 5,000 infections have been arrested as part of a global cybercrime crackdown, according to an announcement Monday by Europol.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco speaks to The Associated Press during an interview at the Department of Justice in Washington on Nov. 2, 2021. Two suspected hackers accused of ransomware attacks resulting in 5,000 infections have been arrested as part of a global cybercrime crackdown, according to an announcement Monday by Europol.

The fake certificates, which falsely declared Trump the victor in several states that President Joe Biden won, were sent to the National Archives by Trump’s allies in mid-December 2020.

Monaco didn’t detail what prosecutors are reviewing in terms of the 2020 vote count. But Monaco said the department would “follow the facts and the law, wherever they lead, to address conduct of any kind and at any level that is part of an assault on our democracy.”

More: ‘This is insane.’ Lawmakers relive Jan. 6 horror alongside fresh trauma of effort to rewrite history

Interviews and text messages obtained by The Arizona Republic have detailed how White House officials and Trump campaign officials extensively pressured Republican leaders in Arizona to take other steps to dismiss the results of the general election after Joe Biden's win.

Michigan Republican Party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock said that the Trump presidential campaign directed Republicans in Michigan to seat fake GOP Electoral College delegates, according to audio obtained by CNN.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DOJ reviews fake elector certificates for possible criminal charges