Page:Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.pdf/372

 individuals and this just being a prominent topic of discussion in our office." When asked how many of his calls or meetings it came up in, she estimated "[d]ozens."

The evidence indicates that by December 7th or 8th, President Trump had decided to pursue the fake elector plan and was driving it. Trump Campaign Associate General Counsel Joshua Findlay was tasked by the campaign's general counsel, Matthew Morgan, around December 7th or 8th with exploring the feasibility of assembling unrecognized slates of Trump electors in a handful of the States that President Trump had lost. Findlay told the Select Committee "it was my understanding that the President made this decision. . . ." As recounted by Findlay, Morgan conveyed that the client—President Trump—directed the campaign lawyers to "look into electors in these potential litigation States[.]"

President Trump personally called RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel days before December 14th to enlist the RNC's assistance in the scheme. President Trump opened the call by introducing McDaniel to John Eastman, who described "the importance of the RNC helping the campaign to gather these contingent electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing changed the results in any of the States." According to McDaniel, she called President Trump back soon after the call ended, letting him know that she agreed to his request and that some RNC staffers were already assisting.

On December 13th and 14th, President Trump worked with Rudolph Giuliani on the plan's implementation. On the 13th, Miller texted some of his colleagues to check in about the fake elector meetings scheduled for the following day. He let them know that Giuliani had told him "POTUS was aware" that they would be filing litigation in four States just "to keep the effort going"—which the Select Committee believes was to create a pretext to claim that it was still possible for the fake electors to be authorized retroactively. (In subsequent litigation, a Federal district court found that President Trump "filed certain lawsuits not to obtain legal relief, but to disrupt or delay the January 6th congressional proceedings through the courts.") The next day, Miller sent an email asking whether they were going to issue a press release about electors, and he was told the "Mayor [is] going to discuss with POTUS."

Not everyone on the campaign was eager to pursue the fake elector plan. On December 11th, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a high-profile lawsuit filed by the State of Texas challenging the election results in Pennsylvania,