Politico:

The Republican National Committee’s attempt to unwind the controversy over its characterization of Jan. 6, 2021, as “legitimate political discourse” may have given investigators of the Capitol riot an underappreciated piece of the puzzle they’re assembling.

According to RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, the phrase “legitimate political discourse” — part of a resolution censuring Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for participating in the select committee probing Donald Trump’s role in Jan. 6 — was a reference to a set of nonviolent GOP activists with close ties to the national party.

Those activists were relatively small in number compared with the thousands who breached the Capitol: They were dozens of state and local GOP leaders who agreed to serve as electors for Trump and signed false documents claiming the former president had prevailed in at least five states that Joe Biden won. In McDaniel’s telling, those Republican activists were engaging in “legitimate” discourse by signing the false certificates and sending them to Washington, a crucial facet of Trump’s last-ditch plan to subvert the 2020 election.

Those same signatures are now being reviewed by federal prosecutors for potential crimes, senior Justice Department officials say — though it’s unclear if the individual false electors knew about Trump’s broader plan. That question is very much on the minds of the Jan. 6 select committee, which subpoenaed 14 of the false electors even before the RNC approved censure language that notably defends their actions.

Here’s a look at how the false electors figured into Trump’s effort and why the national Republican Party’s claim that they were engaging in “legitimate political discourse” is more eye-opening than it initially appears.