New Mexico
Prosecutors: No evidence of intent by N.M.’s fake electors – Source New Mexico
At noon on Dec. 14, 2020, New Mexico’s five presidential electors met in a committee room on the third floor of the New Mexico State Capitol in Santa Fe to cast the electoral college votes for Joe Biden, who won the state by more than 100,000 votes.
At the same time, the five Republican elector nominees met downstairs in the east lobby at the Roundhouse to hold their own “mirror image” meeting to cast their electoral votes for Donald Trump.
Details about the meeting were presented to lawmakers on Wednesday. Sean Sullivan, a New Mexico Department of Justice prosecutor who was later assigned to investigate, said four of the original fake electors attended the meeting: Jewll Powdrell, Deborah W. Maestas, Lupe Garcia, and Rosie Tripp.
Harvey Yates was originally nominated as a fifth GOP elector, but he wasn’t in the state at the time, so the rest of the group instead nominated Anissa Ford-Tinnin, who was the New Mexico Republican Party’s executive director, Sullivan said.
Also present at the meeting were incoming state GOP executive director Nike Kern (who recorded the meeting on video with her phone) and her husband John Kern. That video, Sullivan said, demonstrates the fake electors were “rather unprepared and unfamiliar with the process.”
Powdrell chaired the meeting, and could be seen frequently looking off-camera and taking cues from John Kern, who “had nothing to do with this, he happened to be a lawyer and adept at paperwork,” Sullivan said.
Legitimate presidential electors certify who their votes for president and vice president are going to be by signing what is called a certificate of votes, Sullivan said.
The fake electors signed a certificate of votes saying they were only certifying the electoral votes if they were determined later to be the valid electors for those states, he said.
“We the undersigned, on the understanding that it might later be determined that we are duly elected and qualified electors,” the document begins. Kern and her husband later sent it to the National Archives and former vice president Mike Pence in his capacity in the U.S. Senate, Sullivan said.
“No one there had a very clear sense of what it is they were supposed to be doing, and why it is they were supposed to be doing it,” Sullivan said.
What the Republican electors also didn’t know, Sullivan said, was that in Pennsylvania, GOP electors and their state party chairman felt uncomfortable about signing something holding themselves out as the legitimate electors, when in fact Trump lost the popular vote in that state, too.
According to Sullivan’s summary of his investigation presented to state lawmakers:
To alleviate those concerns, Pennsylvania’s Republican elector nominees on Dec. 12, 2020 spoke with Trump lawyers Kenneth Chesebro and Rudy Giuliani, who falsely assured them the certificates would only be used if the campaign won their lawsuit to overturn the results.
Despite those assurances, Chesebro wrote an email later that night to other attorneys in the Trump campaign suggesting they should use conditional language in their document.
“It strikes me that if inserting these few words is a good idea for (Pennsylvania), it might be worth suggesting to electors in other states,” Chesebro wrote. Four or five hours later, he sent another email to Trump campaign lawyers Mike Roman and Joshua Finley providing them with the documents that would be used by New Mexico’s fake electors, without any edits.
Roman forwarded those documents to Thomas Lane, who was the Trump campaign’s executive election day operation director for New Mexico. Lane then forwarded them on to New Mexico’s fake electors at 3:40 p.m. on Dec. 13, 2020.
“New Mexico’s fake electors had no knowledge of the Pennsylvania developments,” Sullivan said. “They were simply presented with a draft certificate that had already had those changes made.”
Last chance before presidential election
This gap in knowledge is crucial to the New Mexico Department of Justice’s decision not to charge anyone involved in the 2020 fake presidential elector scheme, and now New Mexico’s top prosecutor is asking the state’s legislature to change election law in order to prevent it from happening again.
First, Attorney General Raúl Torrez wants lawmakers to amend the crime of falsifying election documents to prohibit someone from knowingly falsifying an election document without the additional requirement of an intent to deceive or mislead, and to include a wider range of election documents explicitly protected by the law.
Second, he wants legislators to create a new crime of falsely acting as a presidential elector like the one passed by the Nevada Legislature but vetoed by its governor, and explicitly prohibit anyone from escaping criminal liability by using conditional language similar to what was used by New Mexico’s fake electors.
Sullivan, Torrez and New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver presented the new information during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday.
Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces), who heads the committee, said this session is the last time lawmakers will have an opportunity to make any changes to state law before the next presidential election in November.
Cervantes said he wants Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to put the legislation on the call so that lawmakers can consider it in the short session. Torrez said he has identified “a potential sponsor” in the House of Representatives, but did not name them.
‘These individuals cannot be charged with the crime’
The New Mexico Department of Justice looked at the state’s criminal and election laws to figure whether the fake electors, the state Republican Party, or members of Trump’s team and campaign committed a crime when they drafted, signed and sent the false certificate of votes.
Nothing in the state’s election laws apply to their conduct, according to the department’s final report on its investigation of New Mexico’s false electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election.
The crime of forgery is what “most closely aligns with the conduct of the fake electors,” according to state officials. Authorities in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada charged their fake electors with that crime.
But after two years of investigation, the New Mexico Department of Justice found the fake electors’ actions only met two of the three elements needed to prove forgery beyond a reasonable doubt.
Forgery in New Mexico must include: (1) falsely making or altering a signature on, or any part of, a written document, (2) the document claims to be legally valid and (3) the person acted with the intent to injure or defraud.
New Mexico’s fake electors met the first two elements but not the third.
The fake electors received and signed a document with language indicating they were not, at the time, New Mexico’s legitimate presidential electors.
Two days earlier on Dec. 12, 2020 at 9:39 p.m., Ford-Tinnin texted with Lane to discuss an impending lawsuit the campaign would file in New Mexico challenging what they perceived to be voting irregularities, Sullivan said.
According to the final report, the fake electors knew the lawsuit would be filed soon after they signed the certificate of votes, and Lane told Ford-Tinnin the certificate would only be used if they won.
“The totality of the evidence does not establish that the fake electors intended to deceive the President of the Senate into thinking that they were the actual electors from New Mexico and using their votes in place of New Mexico’s actual electors without a court ruling overturning the election results,” the department wrote. “Because proof of an essential element of forgery is missing, these individuals cannot be charged with the crime.”
In interviews with state prosecutors, the fake electors said they participated in the scheme to submit placeholder or contingent votes to be counted only if the election results were lawfully changed as a result of Trump’s lawsuit, Sullivan said.
Ford-Tinnin said the electoral votes “weren’t worth the paper they were written on,” because to her knowledge they hadn’t been filed anywhere, Sullivan said investigators found.
Kern described the certificate they signed as an “insurance policy,” he said. Maestas, Tripp, Powdrell and Garcia believed the certificate would only be operative if the lawsuit succeeded, he said.
New Mexico Republican Party chairman Steve Pearce told investigators the electoral votes served a preservation purpose, and they needed to vote on a specific day so if they were successful later on, they had the votes in place, Sullivan said.
“Those statements were corroborated by other documents that we reviewed that took place close in time or contemporaneously with when they were voting,” Sullivan said. “We’re not just taking folks’ word at face value.”
While there was a scheme at the national level to overturn the 2020 election results, New Mexico Department of Justice investigators wrote, it did not extend to New Mexico because the certificate signed by the fake electors contained the conditional language about Trump’s lawsuit.
By contrast, in five other states, Trump’s team and campaign sent draft certificates of votes to Republican Party executives which declared the fake electors to be the legitimate ones.
If a document like that had been sent to New Mexico GOP party executives or the fake electors, the people responsible “may have been guilty of solicitation of forgery under New Mexico law” because they would have been asking the fake electors to submit a false certificate with fraudulent intent, New Mexico Department of Justice investigators wrote.
Read the entire report from the New Mexico Department of Justice:
FE-Final-Report
New Mexico authorities have accused Emmy-winning actor Timothy Busfield, known for series “The West Wing” and “Thirtysomething,” of child sex abuse.
A judge on Friday issued an arrest warrant for the 68-year-old actor on two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and a single count of child abuse. The arrest warrant affidavit, reviewed by The Times on Sunday, accuses Busfield of inappropriately touching two child actors, who are brothers, during his tenure on the Fox crime drama “The Cleaning Lady.”
“The health and safety of our cast and crew is always our top priority, especially the safety of minors on our productions,” Fox and Warner Bros. Television said in a statement shared Sunday. “We take all allegations of misconduct very seriously and have systems in place to promptly and thoroughly investigate, and when needed, take appropriate action. … We are aware of the current charges against Mr. Busfield and have been and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement.”
Busfield, who was an actor, producer and director for “The Cleaning Lady,” allegedly sexually assaulted of one of the young actors multiple times during his tenure. According to the affidavit, one child actor said Busfield first touched his “‘private areas’” multiple times on set when he was 7 years old. The actor said that when he was 8 years old, Busfield touched him inappropriately again several times. He was “afraid to tell anyone because Tim was the Director, and he feared Tim would get mad at him,” the affidavit said.
The second child actor said that Busfield “started touching them for the first two years” of his time on “The Cleaning Lady,” which filmed in Albuquerque, according to the complaint. The investigator said both children said they did not speak out about their alleged encounters with Busfield out of fear or concern for him.
The actors’ mother, per the complaint, reported the alleged abuse to Child Protective Services in October 2025, claiming that Busfield sexually abused her children from November 2022 to spring 2024. Police began investigating the alleged abuse in November 2024 after receiving a request from a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital.
According to the affidavit, the investigation also included interviews with the children’s therapists and doctors. One of the child actors, who disclosed the alleged abuse by Busfield to his therapist, has issues with bed-wetting “along with other behavior issues,” was diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety and has suffered nightmares “about the director touching him,” according to the complaint.
The investigator also spoke to numerous cast and crew members of “The Cleaning Lady,” which was canceled in June after four seasons. The affidavit details the investigator’s conversations with production assistants, the studio teacher and Busfield.
Busfield, married to actor Melissa Gilbert, told the investigator that “Cleaning Lady” producer Warner Bros. Television notified him in the spring of 2025 of an investigation regarding complaints “about him from the boys.” When asked whether he had any physical contact with the two child actors, Busfield “said it was highly likely that he would have,” the complaint said. He suggested to the investigator that the boys’ mother might have sought “revenge” on the director for “not bringing her kids back for the final season,” according to the complaint.
Though Busfield confirmed the identities of the young actors to the investigator in his interview, he allegedly said later, “ ‘I don’t remember those boys’ ” and “ ‘I don’t remember overtly tickling the boys ever, but it wouldn’t be uncommon for me.’ ”
The complaint also details Warner Bros.’ investigation into Busfield’s alleged behavior. The studio started its investigation after receiving an anonymous tip in February 2025 from the SAG-AFTRA hotline regarding a December 2024 incident. Busfield allegedly entered the hair and makeup trailer and “kissed a minor male on the face as the minor was getting a haircut.” The complaint further alleged “there are pictures of Mr. Busfield, ‘tickling and caressing the head and body of minor boys.’ ”
Neither Fox or Warner Bros. immediately responded to a request for comment on Sunday, but a spokesperson for the latter told the New York Times it is “aware of the current charges against Mr. Busfield and have been and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement.”
Busfield received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Elliot Weston in the ABC drama “Thirtysomething” in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. He also appeared in “Field of Dreams,” “Little Big League,” “The Byrds of Paradise” and other titles. He is perhaps best known for his recurring role in “The West Wing” as Danny Concannon, a White House correspondent who strikes up a relationship with Press Secretary C.J. Clegg, played by Allison Janney.
In addition to television and film, Busfield is a stage actor and director. In 1991, Busfield and his brother Buck Busfield created the B Street Theatre, a nonprofit theater in Sacramento that first began as a touring theater group for children. He also pitched for baseball team the Sacramento Smokeys and was inducted into the Sacramento Baseball Hall of Fame in 2024.
Prior to the allegations from his time on “The Cleaning Lady,” Busfield was accused in 1994 of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old actor who appeared on “Little Big League.” He denied those claims and sued his accuser for defamation. The case ended in a settlement, with a judge ordering Busfield to pay the woman $150,000.
Authorities in New Mexico issued an arrest warrant Friday for director and Emmy Award-winning actor Timothy Busfield to face a child sex abuse charge.
An investigator with the Albuquerque Police Department filed a criminal complaint in support of the charge, which says a child reported that Busfield touched him inappropriately. The acts allegedly occurred on the set of “The Cleaning Lady,” a TV series Busfield directed and acted in.
The child said the first incident happened when he was 7 years old and Busfield touched him three or four times. Busfield allegedly touched him five or six times on another occasion when he was 8.
The child’s mother reported to Child Protective Services that the abuse occurred between November 2022 and spring 2024, the complaint said.
Busfield’s attorney and agent did not immediately respond to email messages seeking comment late Friday.
The arrest warrant, which was signed by a judge, said the charge is for two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor.
According to the complaint, the child, which it identifies only by his initials, has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. A social worker documented him saying he has had nightmares about Busfield touching him and woken up scared.
The child was reportedly afraid to tell anyone because Busfield was the director and he feared he would get mad at him.
The investigation began in November 2024, when the investigator responded to a call from a doctor at the University of New Mexico Hospital. The child’s parents had gone there at the recommendation of a law firm, the complaint said.
“The Cleaning Lady” aired for four seasons on Fox, ending in 2025. It starred Elodie Yung as a Cambodian doctor who comes to the United States to get medical treatment for her son, witnesses a mob killing and ends up becoming a cleaner for organized crime.
The show was produced by Warner Bros., which according to the complaint conducted its own investigation into the abuse allegations but was unable to corroborate them.
Busfield is known for appearances in “The West Wing,” “Field of Dreams” and “Thirtysomething,” the latter of which won him an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series in 1991.
He is married to actor Melissa Gilbert; there was no immediate response to an email sent to her publicist.
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