Former President Donald Trump recently took to his Truth Social account and posted:
“John Roland, a great and preeminent Newscaster in New York City for many years, passed away this morning. With John, there was no Fake News. He was a professional and very high quality individual with many friends, and very few enemies. My warmest condolences to his family. John will be greatly missed!”
Meanwhile, lawyers representing David Shafer, who is the embattled chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, are arguing that their client should not be charged with any crimes for his actions following the 2020 election because he was following advice provided by attorneys working for former President Donald Trump, according to a letter sent to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis last week.
Specifically, Shafer’s attorneys stated that their client was relying on “repeated and detailed advice of legal counsel” when he organized a group of “contingent” electors from Georgia and served as one himself, thus “eliminating any possibility of criminal intent or liability,” according to a copy of the May 5 letter.
Shafer, who sources previously told CNN could be among those indicted when Willis makes her charging announcements, has come under scrutiny for his role in the effort to put forward alternate slates of electors to block the certification of the 2020 presidential vote.
In their letter to Willis’s office, Shafer’s lawyers say he was “given very direct, detailed legal advice on the procedure he should follow, and he followed those instructions to the letter.”
“I believe that any fair-minded person, with possession of all the facts, would conclude that Mr. Shafer and the other presidential elector nominees acted lawfully and appropriately,” the letter adds.
The district attorney’s office declined to comment.
Willis has further indicated that she is seriously weighing bringing racketeering and conspiracy charges in connection with Trump’s actions in the Peach State around the 2020 election. At least eight of the Republican “fake electors” in Georgia have accepted immunity deals in the ongoing criminal investigation, according to a court filing last week, and the newly secured cooperators could offer insights into a key prong of Willis’ sprawling investigation into election interference.
Willis had previously notified all 16 GOP fake electors in Georgia that they were targets in her investigation.
Other Republicans who served as pro-Trump electors, including Shafer, could still face legal exposure in her investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.
