LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The six people accused of trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Nevada have pleaded not guilty.
The six, including Michael McDonald, chairman of the Nevada Republican Party, are accused of submitting false documents to Congress on behalf of former President Donald Trump following the 2020 election, claiming that he won Nevada even though he did not. The six are each facing two felony charges: one count of offering false instruments for filing or record and one count of uttering forged instruments to commit forgery.
On Monday, the six defendants appeared before District Judge Mary Kay Holthus via Zoom. McDonald's attorney, Las Vegas lawyer Richard Wright, was in court, though he declined to speak with Channel 13 following the hearing.
During a 2024 presidential campaign event in Reno on Sunday, Trump defended McDonald calling him "a tremendous guy".
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According to Nevada Attorney General Aarod Ford's office, there is no statute that directly criminalizes trying to pass yourself off as an elector when you are not. The bill that looked to change that, Senate Bill 133, was vetoed by Gov. Joe Lombardo earlier this year. At the time, Lombardo said there should be "strict punishments" for people undermining confidence in elections but the punishment in the bill was harsher than penalties that had been given to some domestic violence offenders and some of the most "extreme and violent actors on Jan. 6".
Ford previously told Channel 13 the investigation into the fake elector scheme had been going on since May 2022.
Nevada is one of at least three states looking to charge people for allegedly being fake electors. Authorities have previously issued indictments in Georgia and Michigan.
As for the six facing charges in Nevada, McDonald, James DeGraffenreid, Durward Hindle, Jesse Law, Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice are all due back in court in March.
