Wisconsin Trump elector on 2020 election docs: "It was not a safe time"
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A screenshot of former Wisconsin Republican Party Chair Andrew Hitt on CBS' "60 Minutes."
Former Wisconsin Republican Party Chair Andrew Hitt said he was scared when he signed documents falsely claiming former President Trump won the state's 2020 election, according to an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" broadcast Sunday.
Why it matters: Wisconsin is one of seven states where special counsel Jack Smith alleges Trump and his co-accused conspired to organize a fraudulent slate of electors, and Hitt noted in the interview that the indictment says "some of the electors were tricked — that was us."
Driving the news: After the Wisconsin Supreme Court in December 2020 rejected Trump's lawsuit seeking to disqualify over 221,000 ballots in two Democratic counties, Hitt said he met with nine other Republican electors because he was advised the former president's campaign would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
What they're saying: "We got specific advice from our lawyers that these documents were meaningless unless a court said they had meaning," Hitt told CBS's Anderson Cooper during the "60 Minutes" interview.
- "And if I didn't do that [sign the documents], and the court did throw out those votes, it would have been solely my fault that Trump wouldn't have won Wisconsin," said Hitt, who emphasized he was "absolutely" scared.
- Cooper asked if Hitt was scared of Trump supporters in his state.
- "It was not a safe time. If my lawyer is right, and the whole reason Trump loses Wisconsin is because of me, I would be scared to death," said Hitt, who noted he felt "terrible" about what happened.
Zoom out: The other Wisconsin Republican electors settled a civil lawsuit over the matter last December and acknowledged that President Biden won Wisconsin. None of the Wisconsin electors have been charged with any offense.
- Prosecutors in Nevada, Michigan and Georgia have filed criminal charges in fake elector cases.
- Kenneth Chesebro, a former Trump campaign attorney whom prosecutors said helped devise the Trump campaign's plot to introduce fake electors after the 2020 election, reached a plea deal last October in the Georgia 2020 election interference case.
Of note: Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential primary frontrunner, faces four indictments and has pleaded not guilty in each case.
- Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
Flashback: Jan. 6 panel subpoenas "alternate" Trump electors
