An ill-conceived attempt to trick the National Archives into declaring Donald Trump the winner of both Michigan and Arizona in the 2020 election has been revealed in a new report from Politico. The site reports the National Archives received a forged certificate of ascertainment from each state in the months after Trump’s loss to Joe Biden. However, inevitably, the Archives saw through the plan. According to Politico, it informed the Arizona secretary of state about the forged state document on Dec. 11, 2020, then Arizona took legal action against a pro-Trump “sovereign citizen” group that was alleged to have been behind the letter. The Arizona letter reportedly featured a state seal in an attempt to appear as if it was an official document. The Michigan letter did not use the state seal and Politico reports that state officials didn’t take any legal action after the Archives flagged the forgery. Spokespeople for the Michigan and Arizona secretaries of state didn’t comment on Politico’s report.
