Former President Donald Trump and 18 other co-defendants were indicted on an assortment of crimes in Georgia by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in relation to actions taken to challenge the 2020 election results in that state.
Now one of Trump's co-defendants, David Shafer, has revealed that his wife was harassed and subtly threatened with regard to the criminal indictment against him, the Western Journal reported.
Shafer is a former state senator who served as chairman of the Georgia Republican Party during the 2020 election, and he stands accused of playing a key role in the supposed "fake electors" scheme that ostensibly would have replaced electors for President Joe Biden with electors supporting Trump when Congress certified the Electoral College results.
On Monday morning, Shafer posted to social media a picture of a letter that purportedly had been sent to his wife, Lee, that featured a handwritten caption above an aerial view of the Phillips State Prison in Buford, Georgia, that said, "David's retirement home."
Beneath the photo of the prison was another handwritten note that read: "Lee, Get Out Now And Run As Fast As You Can! This Is Not Going To End Well for David."
In sharing that picture, Shafer snidely wrote, "The individual who mailed this to my wife almost certainly has 'Be Kind' in their Twitter profile and 'Coexist' on their car bumper."
The individual who mailed this to my wife almost certainly has “Be Kind” in their Twitter profile and “Coexist” on their car bumper. pic.twitter.com/uxmWKRueWo
— David Shafer (@DavidShafer) August 28, 2023
According to The Hill, Shafer, who made his Fulton County mugshot his profile picture on social media, faces eight criminal counts in the indictment issued by DA Willis earlier this month, which includes, among other things, "impersonating a public officer, forgery, false statements and attempting to file false documents."
He is one of three of the 16 so-called "fake electors" -- the others reportedly received immunity in exchange for cooperative testimony to a grand jury -- who met on Dec. 14, 2020, in support of then-President Trump and signed documents claiming to be Georgia's lawful electors in regard to the Electoral College and congressional certification.
Shafer is also accused of having lied to Fulton County prosecutors during an April 2022 interview about his particular role and the specifics of that meeting at the state Capitol building in December 2020.
Atlanta's WANF reported last week that Shafer filed a motion to have his case removed to federal court from the state judicial system by virtue of the U.S. Constitution's "supremacy clause" which dictates how, in certain instances, federal law supersedes state law.
"The Supremacy Clause plainly bars the State’s attempt here to criminalize the actions of persons acting pursuant to federal authority to achieve the purposes of the national government," Shafer's filing said. "Neither the State of Georgia nor any of its localities has the authority to prosecute Mr. Shafer for these actions, and this Court should exercise its clear authority to correct this injustice and halt this unlawful and unconstitutional attempted prosecution now."
Meanwhile, as Shafer faces the prospect of soaring legal expenses as he fights back against what looks to be a politically motivated prosecution that seeks to criminalize lawful and ordinary activities to challenge disputed election results, former Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin has stepped up to lead an effort to raise funds in support of his legal defense.
Martin noted that Shafer had attempted to legally challenge last-minute election law changes prior to the November 2020 election, had joined Trump in a summarily dismissed lawsuit that challenged Georgia's reported results, and now faces punishment for having "exercised his constitutional right to 'petition the government for redress of grievances'" under the First Amendment.
