Two CNN reporters, Marshall Cohen and Zachary Cohen (not related), explain here.
“After various election fraud lawsuits in these states failed, Giuliani and his team shifted their focus to January 6. The idea, as outlined in a memo written by conservative lawyer John Eastman, was for then-Vice President Mike Pence to throw out President Joe Biden’s electors and replace them with the GOP electors on January 6 when Congress counted the electoral votes. This, in theory, would give Trump more electoral votes than Biden.”
If that can be done, why even bother to have elections or vote? It would render the votes of 157 million voters merely advisory, to be ignored at will by those in power, and it also would mean a president, once in power, couldn’t be voted out of office by the people.
“The fake certificates are important because some legal experts, and some state attorneys general, are now saying that it might have been illegal for the GOP electors to send fake documents to the National Archives.”
Some of the schemers are saying the fake certificates were “contingent” on Trump’s electors being seated as a result of legal challenges, in which case they would become real certificates. But Trump lost all his court challenges, and the fake certificates were submitted anyway, which blows away that argument.
Another potential argument is that the fake certificates did no harm, because they weren’t accepted and no substitution of electors occurred. But that’s like arguing if you try to pass counterfeit money, and the casher doesn’t take it, you didn’t commit a crime. Uh yeah, you did, if you knew it was counterfeit. A criminal attempt doesn’t have to succeed to violate the law.
Related story: Rolling Stone details a plot to overthrow the election and install counterfeit electors in Arizona in a story here.