A November 18th memo to a lawyer with the Trump campaign in Wisconsin appears to be the earliest mention of the scheme to create an alternate slate of electors and disrupt the certification of Joseph Biden as the 46th President of the United States, the New York Times reports.

While the Wisconsin memo did not pursue the plot to nullify the Congressional certification of the election, it was an attempt to overturn the results of the state’s election by Republican Party operatives.

On the day Donald Trump announced his intention to seek recounts in two Wisconsin counties, Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer, wrote a message to James R. Troupis, a lawyer for the Trump campaign in Wisconsin, outlining a plan to appoint a Trump-supporting group of electors to counter the official electors named by the state legislature. 

The Chesebro letter notes that the official outcome of the election might not be sufficiently determined by December 14th, the day the state’s electors are chosen, because of the amount of litigation going on surrounding the results.

“It may seem odd that the electors pledged to Trump and Pence might meet and cast their votes on Dec. 14 even if, at that juncture, the Trump-Pence ticket is behind in the vote count, and no certificate of election has been issued in favor of Trump and Pence,” the Nov. 18 memo said. “However, a fair reading of the federal statutes suggests that this is a reasonable course of action.”