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Inside the alternate electors room
Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones was an alternate elector. Three of those are already under indictment. But because of a conflict of interest, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was ordered not to include the lieutenant governor in her wide-ranging investigation. The FOX 5 I-Team now knows what she believes he did in the days following the 2020 election.
ATLANTA - The Fulton County election interference indictment lists 30 unnamed individuals as unindicted co-conspirators.
FOX 5 has now learned the name of one.
The FOX 5 I-Team identified Lt. Gov. Burt Jones as "Unindicted Co-Conspirator Individual Number 8."
Then-Georgia state Sen. Jones was one of the so-called fake electors who tried to give Georgia’s 16 electoral votes to former president Donald Trump instead of President Joe Biden.
Because of a conflict of interest, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was ordered not to include Jones in any possible prosecution.
However, according to this week’s far-reaching indictment, the future lieutenant governor’s involvement was very much at the center of this key moment of alleged election interference.
The indictment said one of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s overt acts was to retweet a post from "Individual 8." That tweet was from Burt Jones.
READ: TRUMP INDICTMENT IN GEORGIA ELECTION PROBE
"Individual 8" was one of only a few people mentioned who helped organize the December 14, 2020, alternate elector meeting inside the Georgia Capitol.
"He was not only involved as an alternative elector, he was one of the instigators and one of the organizers of the electors," said former DeKalb County District Attorney J.Tom Morgan.
The indictment said "Individual 8," Jones, received emails from one of the defendants — Alpharetta attorney Robert Cheeley: "I am also making the leadership aware of the importance for Trump electors to meet on December 14. Please provide the citation to the requirements of the duties which they must comply with."
The same day — December 6, 2020 -- another defendant, John Eastman, emailed Jones and two others with more instructions: "Trump presidential elector nominees in Georgia needed to meet on December 14, 2020, sign six sets of certificates of vote, and mail them to the President of the Senate and to other officials."
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DA asks for Trump trial date in Georgia
Former President Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants have until a week from Friday turn themselves in to the Fulton County Jail. District Attorney Fani Willis wants all the defendants to go on trial in March.
Steps were also taken, according to the indictment, to get Jones’ contact information to Giuliani.
Despite his involvement in arranging the so-called fake elector meeting, Jones was not originally supposed to be one of the electors. The indictment said on the day before the vote, defendant David Shafer texted another unnamed co-conspirator to say Burt Jones would attend "in place of a Trump presidential elector nominee who refused to participate in the meeting."
"It’s concerning that another level of government, the lieutenant governor is being involved in trying to decide what should happen with the votes," said B.J. Bernstein, a longtime Atlanta defense attorney who does not represent any of the defendants.
An email from the Trump campaign was sent to the alternate electors warning them not to disclose to anyone the true reason for their meeting. They were only discovered when an independent journalist stumbled into the meeting room to ask why they were all there.
"They schemed and planned this without the public’s knowledge," said Morgan.
Jones’ signature would be on the list of 16 sent to the President of the Senate and Archivist falsely certifying there were "the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of Georgia."
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Pence on Trump's continued election claims
Republican presidential candidate Mike Pence addressed the Georgia indictments facing former President Donald Trump. The former vice president spoke about the topic during his keynote at the Republican breakfast session of the conference of state legislature’s legislative summit in Indianapolis.
Some of those electors argue they were just preserving then-President Donald Trump’s rights in case pending litigation went in their favor.
"If this scheme is deemed and it will ultimately go to the Georgia courts, as maybe untoward and not illegal, there’s nothing Mr. Jones or these others can be charged with," cautioned Morgan.
A special prosecutor will be appointed to decide whether Jones should face charges. Three of his fellow alternate electors Shafer, Cathy Latham, and state Sen. Shawn Still, are accused of impersonating a public officer, forgery in the first degree, false statements and writings and filing false documents.
"His colleagues who participated in this scheme have been indicted," Morgan said. "Only because Ms. Willis made a mistake and held a fundraiser for his opponent was he severed from this case. So he’s probably breathing a sigh of relief that he’s not in this indictment, but he still could be found in another indictment."