DOJ subpoenas Georgia Republican Party chairman as it expands Trump fake elector probe

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The subpoena for President David Shafer represents an important step because he played a pivotal role in organizing Georgia’s fake voters list and coordinated the effort with the Trump campaign.

The focus on Shafer also comes as sources tell CNN the Justice Department subpoenaed Trump voters this week in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania – all states that former President Donald Trump lost.

The Justice Department examined the Trump campaign’s use of so-called proxy voters. The new round of subpoenas represents an escalation of a criminal investigation that previously approached lower-tier Republicans. From the start, however, federal investigators have sought information on political figures higher up, including at the top of the Trump campaign.

In the weeks following the 2020 election and through Jan. 6, 2021, Trump allies sent fake voters lists to the National Archives claiming the then-president had won seven states he had in fact lost. The bid fell through and then-Vice President Mike Pence certified Joe Biden’s election victory on January 6 after rioters were forced out of the US Capitol.

Just this week, the separate House Select Committee investigation pointed out that some attorneys working with the Trump campaign led the effort to summon Trump’s fake slates in battleground states he had. lost.

CNN previously reported that the criminal investigation sought information from Republicans in several states, including Georgia and Michigan, who had opted out of serving as Trump voters.

In this latest round of subpoenas, the targets are the people who signed up on the illegitimate lists, sources say.

Shafer did not respond to a request for comment. He now finds himself embroiled in three separate investigations — the Congressional Jan. 6 investigation, a Fulton County, Georgia criminal investigation, and the Justice Department investigation.

Another source said the FBI sought information, including the contents of a phone, from Brad Carver, one of Georgia’s fake voters. The FBI also sought information on Georgia Republicans who participated in a private Signal chat in the run-up to the 2020 election, the source said.

Carver did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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