Judge dismisses criminal charges against Trump’s ‘fake electors’ in Nevada

A judge in Nevada has dismissed a criminal case against six so-called “fake electors” who tried to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election.

Friday’s ruling marks the first time that a case related to the Trump campaign’s efforts to reverse his election results has been dismissed.

Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus argued that the case from state prosecutors was filed in the wrong county.

Attorneys for the six defendants argued that the case should have been brought in Carson City, where they approved false certificates certifying Trump’s electors, or in Douglas County, where those documents were mailed.

Nevada’s Attorney General Aaron Ford is expected to appeal the decision.

The charges joined several state-level criminal cases against Trump allies who joined a nationwide scheme to overturn 2020 results by certifying “alternate” electors in states Trump lost.

Those “results” would then be certified in Congress, part of an allegedly criminal scheme that is central to the federal and state election interference charges against the former president.

Nevada’s sitting GOP chair Michael McDonald, Clark County chair Jesse Law, state party vice chair Jim Hindle III, Jim DeGraffenreid, Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice each face charges of offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument by submitting fraudulent documents to state and federal officials.

Similar prosecutions targeting “fake electors” and Trump allies connected to the scheme are underway in four other states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

This is a developing story