Mike Pence knew before January 6th that there were states that sent in forged election documents.

[onenote]

33. The articles make clear that the fake slates were being sent to Washington

Last edited Tue Jan 18, 2022, 02:22 AM - Edit history (1)

and contradicts the assumption that the playacting electors weren't actually planning to do anything with the results of the fake votes.

Now, it appears you want to draw a distinction based on the fact that the articles refer to the fake slates having been sent to "Congress" not the Archives. I could respond by posting links to any number of articles that describe the legitimate slates as having been sent to "Congress" rather than specifically to the Archives.

But, in any event, here's one of several articles I could post from December that specifically refers to the Arizona fake slate having been sent to the Archives.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/12/14/arizona-groups-fake-electors-try-cast-11-electoral-votes-trump/6536056002/

And here's a portion of a legal brief filed by the Trump campaign in December 2020 that refers to the Wisconsin slate having been sent to "Washington".

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eo_ZxT7XUAIXtZp?format=png&name=medium

And then there's the January 5 article that describes the fact that, in response to a FOIA request, the Archives had provided NBC with information about several alternate slates that the Archives had received.(Not a very secretive effort if NBC knew enough to make a FOIA request).

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-leans-harder-pence-flip-election-results-n1252849

Finally, there are the stories about how Rachel Maddow recently "uncovered" the fake certificates. Which must come as a bit of a surprise to the organization that (apparently not drawing the distinction you are about news reports saying the slates were being sent to "Congress" or "Washington", obtained (via a FOIA request directed to the Archives) and published those very same certificates more than nine months ago. https://www.americanoversight.org/american-oversight-obtains-seven-phony-certificates-of-pro-trump-electors

I'm not saying that the fake slates aren't a big deal or that the perpetrators of them shouldn't be prosecuted. Just that it wasn't as if anyone was keeping it a big secret until last week.