Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenas 2 Fake Trump Electors From Pennsylvania

Lisa Patton, a former staffer for the Donald Trump for President 2020 campaign, and Bill Bachenberg, founder of an outdoor adventure camp for veterans in Lackawanna County, were subpoenaed to appear for a deposition on Feb. 25.

Two Pennsylvanians were among 14 people subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the US Capitol insurrection who it says falsely tried to declare Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 election.

Lisa Patton and Bill Bachenberg were subpoenaed to appear for a deposition before the committee on Feb. 25. In letters issued to both, Democratic chairman Bennie Thompson said the committee is “seeking information about your role and participation in the purported slate of electors casting votes for Donald Trump and, to the extent relevant, your role in the events of January 6, 2021.”

Patton is the former PA state events director for the Donald Trump for President 2020 campaign. Bachenberg is founder and president of Camp Freedom in Carbondale, Lackawanna County. 

Pennsylvania is one of seven states where Trump electors met and submitted false electoral college certificates in favor of the GOP-candidate. The other states include Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, and Wisconsin. President Joe Biden won all seven states.

The nine-member Jan. 6 committee said it has obtained information that groups of individuals met on Dec. 14, 2020 — more than a month after Election Day — in the seven states. The individuals, according to the congressional investigation, then submitted fake slates of Electoral College votes for Trump. Then “alternate electors” from those seven states sent those certificates to Congress, where several of Trump’s advisers used them to justify delaying or blocking the certification of the election during the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

The electors from Pennsylvania attempted to soften the language on their elector ballot certificate to say they’d cast their votes for Trump “only if his election challenges succeeded in the courts.”

As a result of the softer wording, Trump electors from the commonwealth will likely be spared the legal trouble potentially facing their counterparts in other states.

The baseless claims of election fraud from the former president and his allies fueled the deadly insurrection on the Capitol building that day as a violent mob interrupted the certification of the Electoral College results.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.