Kelli Ward, who helms the Arizona GOP, reportedly voiced concerns that a plan to produce an alternate slate of electors could “appear treasonous,” according to emails from a Trump campaign lawyer.
Ward had been recruited alongside state Sen. Kelly Townsend (R) and others to aid in efforts to challenge the 2020 election, but both Ward and Townsend raised concerns in December 2020 that the lack of a pending legal challenge to Arizona’s election results could cast a shadow over the alternate elector scheme, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
ARIZONA ATTORNEY GENERAL FINDS NO WIDESPREAD DEAD VOTERS IN 2020
“Ward and Townsend are concerned it could appear treasonous for the AZ electors to vote on Monday if there is no pending court proceeding that might, eventually, lead to the electors being ratified as the legitimate ones,” Kenneth Chesebro, a Trump campaign lawyer, wrote to members of the campaign’s legal team on Dec. 11, 2020, per the outlet.
Ward had advocated that the alternate elector scheme be kept quiet but ultimately put her name on a document claiming to be a “certificate of the votes of the 2020 electors from Arizona,” the outlet reported. She has also peddled claims that former President Donald Trump was wrongly deprived of victory on election night, having filed a lawsuit to nullify President Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona.
Unlike Ward, Townsend did not sign a document purporting to be an alternate elector. But both Townsend and Ward have been subpoenaed by the Justice Department for information about the alternate elector scheme, which has reportedly been a key component of its sprawling inquiry into the events surrounding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Chesebro had requested assurance from Arizona lawyer Jack Wilenchik that he would file a legal challenge to a state Supreme Court ruling that upheld Biden’s victory, according to an email obtained by the outlet.
“Reason is that Kelli Ward & Kelly Townsend just spoke to the mayor about the campaign’s request that all electors vote Monday in all contested states,” Chesebro said in the email.
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Eventually, Chesebro no longer saw “cause for concern” due to a group that had planned to file a challenge to the election, according to a subsequent email he wrote.
Arizona was one of a handful of states where Trump allies put forward an alternate slate of electors intended to be used as a tool to tip the election to Trump should legal challenges to the election prevail in court.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Ward and Townsend for comment.
