ATLANTA (AP) 鈥� It was a bad place to keep a secret.
When Republicans gathered on Dec. 14, 2020, casting the state’s 16 electoral votes for Donald Trump, they met at the Georgia Capitol in a room just upstairs from the building’s public entrance. A Trump campaign official asked for the electors’ 鈥渃omplete discretion,鈥� telling them to say only that they were meeting with two state senators who were there.
鈥淵our duties are imperative to ensure the end result 鈥� a win in Georgia for President Trump 鈥� but will be hampered unless we have complete secrecy and discretion,” Robert Sinners wrote in an email uncovered by investigators.
But reporters for The Associated Press and other news organizations noticed the Republicans entering the building and were eventually admitted into the room, where they photographed and recorded video of the proceeding. In the chaotic weeks after the 2020 election, the gathering’s significance wasn’t immediately clear. But it has emerged as a critical element to the who were indicted by a Georgia grand jury in August for efforts to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state.
The meeting was cited as a central element in court proceedings Friday as part of a last-minute deal with attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who pleaded guilty to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents.
Chesebro, who prosecutors have said helped to meet in states where Biden was certified as the winner, in the case. Attorney Sidney Powell to six misdemeanors accusing her of intentionally interfering with the performance of election duties as part of a broader conspiracy prosecutors say violated Georgia’s .
in the ornate state Senate chamber to cast electoral votes for Biden, the Republicans sat around three worn and nicked wooden conference tables to consider options for keeping Trump in the White House. In the words of the case laid out by prosecutors, these were 鈥渇ake” or 鈥渇alse鈥� or 鈥渇raudulent鈥� electors. At least eight Georgia Republican electors present that day in exchange for immunity from state charges.
The meeting was led by David Shafer, then chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. Lending it the air of an official proceeding, a court reporter was present, something Shafer denied during questioning by Fulton County prosecutors in April 2022. That denial contributed to a charge of false statements and writings against Shafer.
More improvised elements of the meeting became clear as the group considered its officers. Shawn Still, who is , wasn’t initially elected as secretary, for instance. But halfway through the meeting, Shafer noted that Still鈥檚 name was printed as the secretary on documents.
鈥淚 would like to avoid reprinting the documents,鈥� Shafer said, asking the electors to replace another Republican with Still.
One of only three people the grand jury indicted for participating in the vote, Still may have been dragged into legal jeopardy when he was elected secretary. The third indicted elector, Cathy Latham, was also charged for helping outsiders in south Georgia’s Coffee County.
As the meeting unfolded, the Republicans sought to replace four electors who were previously lined up to support Trump. One had registered to vote in Alabama and was no longer eligible. State Sen. , later elected lieutenant governor with Trump鈥檚 backing, took his spot.
Three other electors didn鈥檛 show up, including John Isakson Jr., son of late Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson. Isakson told in 2022 that he stayed away because the meeting seemed like 鈥減olitical gamesmanship.鈥�
Prosecutors allege Shafer and Still committed yet more felonies by creating a document claiming to fill those vacancies. State law says that action needed Gov. Brian Kemp鈥檚 consent. The Republican governor had days earlier certified for a second time after a recount.
Sinners, the Trump official, printed new elector certificates on a noisy portable printer. The racket of the machine gave the meeting a mundane, bureaucratic feel in an unadorned space usually set aside for state lawmakers to host constituents.
One by one, the 16 Republicans were called. Each rose and walked to the table, signing certificates pronouncing Trump and then-Vice President as the preferred choice of Georgia voters. That鈥檚 the moment, grand jurors allege, when they committed the felonies for which they鈥檝e been charged: impersonating a public officer, first degree forgery and making false statements in writing.
鈥淭hey were fake electors; they were impersonating electors. They were no electors,” Fulton County prosecutor Anna Cross , adding there was no evidence that Shafer, Still, Latham or other Republicans believed Trump had actually won.
Their defenders call them 鈥渁lternate鈥� or 鈥渃ontingent鈥� electors, saying they were just trying to keep Trump’s legal options open as a lawsuit challenged Georgia’s election results. Some Republicans argue Trump never got a fair shake in Georgia because that , despite a state law calling for election challenges to be heard within 20 days. A Georgia Republican Party calls them 鈥減atriots who served.”
鈥淚f we did not hold this meeting, then our election contest would effectively be abandoned,鈥� Shafer said during the December meeting, talking to attorney Ray Smith, who was there advising the electors and was also indicted. 鈥淎nd so the only way for us to have any judge consider the merits of our complaint, the thousands of people who we allege voted unlawfully, is for us to have this meeting.鈥�
Shafer defended his actions then and now by citing an episode that played out . Democrats met that year after Republican Richard Nixon was certified as the state鈥檚 winner and sent three electoral votes to the U.S. Senate backing John F. Kennedy.
Todd Zywicki, a law professor at George Mason University in Virginia, concluding actions by Shafer and other Georgia Republican electors were 鈥渓awful, reasonable, proper and necessary鈥� considering the election contest and the Hawaii precedent.
Lawyers for the indicted electors argue it to determine which slates should be counted.
But Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis鈥� office, in a court filing, disputed Shafer鈥檚 claim that the actions of Georgia Republicans in 2020 bore any similarity to those of Hawaii Democrats in 1960. Her staff cites a major distinction 鈥� Democrats eventually won a recount in Hawaii that a court affirmed and the governor certified, sending official documents to the Senate.
鈥淭he factual situations are so readily distinguishable as to make the comparison meaningless,鈥� , arguing against Shafer鈥檚 attempt to remove his case to federal court. Willis鈥� office wrote that the Republican meeting 鈥渨as used to further a clumsy but relentless pressure campaign on the vice president and state legislatures, and as a means to publicly undermine the legitimate results of the presidential election.鈥�
Sinners, the Trump campaign staffer who helped arrange the meeting, now rejects its purpose. He denies the notion that Trump won Georgia and now works for Brad Raffensperger, the Republican secretary of state who came to national attention for to 鈥渇ind鈥� enough votes to ensure his win. Sinners cooperated with the U.S. House committee that investigated the violent insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. He hasn’t said whether he’s cooperating with Willis.
In an interview, he made his regrets clear about what unfolded in the Georgia Capitol during one of the most turbulent periods in American politics.
鈥淭his was an ill-advised attempt by the former president鈥檚 campaign to create a false reality 鈥� a victory,鈥� Sinners said.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
