ATLANTA — David Shafer, one of the 19 co-defendants in Georgia's 2020 election RICO case, made waves on social media early Wednesday morning when he posted his own mugshot from his booking the Fulton County Jail.
Shafer was one of two people to turn themselves in overnight, along with former Coffee County GOP chair Cathy Latham.
RELATED: Georgia Trump case updates | Two surrendered overnight to Fulton County jail; 15 more expected
That makes four people in total who have now surrendered to authorities ahead of the Friday noon deadline issued by District Attorney Fani Willis.
How did Shafer arrive here? Largely through his alleged role in the "alternate" elector scheme.
Who is David Shafer?
Shafer is the former chairman of the state Republican Party in Georgia, the position he held at the time of the 2020 election.
He led the meeting of "alternate" electors at the Georgia State Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, with the slate then sending along illegitimate Electoral College votes for Trump to Congress and the National Archive.
Shafer has long maintained this was a legitimate contingency in the event any of Trump's lawsuits at the time succeeded in reversing his loss in Georgia.
Of note with Shafer, as well, is that he is one of three people currently trying to move his case to federal court. Unlike the other two, he was not at the time, nor has ever been, a federal official. But he argues his charges stem "directly from his service as a Presidential Elector nominee acting under the authority of the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act... and at the direction of the President and other federal officers."
Later, his filing asserts he "and the other Republican Electors in the 2020 election acted at the direction of the incumbent President and other federal officials. Attorneys for the President and Mr. Shafer specifically instructed Mr. Shafer, verbally and in writing, that the Republican electors' meeting and casting their ballots on December 14, 2020 was consistent with counsels' advice and was necessary to preserve the presidential election contest."
(The "contest" referenced in the last sentence above was their lawsuit in Georgia state court trying to get the results decertified, under a provision of Georgia law that allows for the contesting of election results.)
Those defending the "alternate" electors scheme have compared it to a situation in Hawaii in the 1960 presidential election, where in that state, the results of the vote count were in dispute as the time neared for the Electoral College to meet and cast the electoral votes. Legal experts have noted an important difference in Georgia in 2020 is that the election result was not in dispute - it had been counted three times and certified by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Georgia State Law professor Clark D. Cunningham highlighted Shafer's filing Tuesday on CNN and the implications it places on Trump.