Several unnamed Republican strategists reportedly fear that state Sen. Burt Jones’ involvement in the phony electors scandal in Georgia could come back to bite him in the ass in his bid for lieutenant governor this year.
Jones is running against attorney Charlie Bailey, a Democrat, who is wisely going for his Republican rival’s jugular, calling Jones’ role as a “fake” elector “un-American,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reports.
“Burt Jones doesn’t get to decide whose votes count and whose votes don’t … When you step in and say, ‘I am the official elector of this state and I am saying that Donald Trump won this state despite the law, despite the certification (of votes), we are saying this because we want it to be the case,’ there’s nothing more un-American, there’s nothing more unpatriotic than an action like that,” Bailey told the AJC.
RELATED STORY: Email obtained by prosecutors shows Trump’s campaign asked fake GOP electors for ‘complete secrecy’
The U.S. Department of Justice continues to escalate its investigation into the fake electors as evidence continues to pour into the U.S. House select committee’s investigation of former President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6 insurrection.
One GOP strategist told AJC he and others are growing anxious that Bailey and other Democrats could easily use Jones’ participation in the electors scheme to blow up their candidates in the whole of the downballot.
“It’s a massive liability, especially heading into November,” a strategist who withheld his name out of fear told AJC. “At what point does the FBI call up Burt Jones and say, ‘Hey, you were a fake elector,’ and what’s the effect on the downticket ballot? There’s a massive underlying sense that he can take everybody down.”
Jones’ spokesman, Stephen Lawson, calls Bailey’s attacks “politically motivated,” adding, “These are nothing more than fake political attacks from a twice failed politician who has no platform to run on. Georgia families want someone who will put politics aside to deliver real results—and that’s exactly what I’ll be focused on doing as lieutenant governor.”
As Daily Kos reported in early June, an email obtained by federal prosecutors shows a Trump campaign staffer requesting that bogus Georgia Republican electors meet in “complete secrecy,” The Washington Post reports.
Just one day before 16 fake alternate Republican electors met at the Georgia Capitol to falsely certify that Trump won the 2020 presidential election, Robert Sinners, the Trump campaign’s operations director for Georgia elections, sent out an email asking them for their “complete discretion in this process,” adding, “Your duties are imperative to ensure the end result—a win in Georgia for President Trump—but will be hampered unless we have complete secrecy and discretion.”
The Dec. 13 email additionally instructs Trump’s electors to intentionally mislead security guards at the Georgia Capitol by telling them they have appointments with Republican state Sens. Brandon Beach and Burt Jones.
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