Two memos prepared weeks after the 2020 election show lawyers for then-President Donald Trump’s campaign plotting to replace electors in swing states where he slumped to defeat. The memos—dated to Nov. 18, 2020, and three weeks later on Dec. 9—were published in full by The New York Times on Wednesday. They show Trump lawyers James Troupis and Kenneth Chesebro cooking up a plan to install alternate slates of pro-Trump electors in states won by Joe Biden. The first memo reads: “It may seem odd that the electors pledged to Trump and Pence might meet and cast their votes on Dec. 14 even if, at that juncture, the Trump-Pence ticket is behind in the vote count, and no certificate of election has been issued in favor of Trump and Pence... However, a fair reading of the federal statutes suggests that this is a reasonable course of action.” The memos reportedly went on to be used by Rudy Giuliani to shape plans to reverse the election result. Neither Troupis nor Chesebro commented on the report.
