A grand jury has indicted 11 Arizona Republicans and seven other individuals for their involvement in an alleged scheme to keep Donald Trump in the White House by falsely certifying the state’s 2020 election results in his favor.
The indictment claims the group attempted to disrupt the “lawful transfer of the presidency of the United States, keeping President Donald J. Trump in office against the will of Arizona voters, and depriving Arizona voters of their right to vote and have their votes counted.”
According to the indictment, one month after the 2020 election, 11 Trump-supporting Republicans gathered at the Arizona GOP headquarters in Phoenix to sign certificates falsely declaring Trump the winner of the state’s electoral college votes.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a video announcing the indictment, “We conducted a thorough and professional investigation over the past 13 months into the fake electors scheme in our state. I understand for some of you today didn’t come fast enough. And I know I’ll be criticized by others for conducting this investigation at all. But as I’ve stated before, and we’ll say here again today, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined.”
The indictment also names seven additional individuals, though their identities are currently redacted pending notification. Given other details in the document, it seems likely that former New York mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani is among the defendants. The indictment describes someone “often identified as ‘the Mayor’” who spread false claims of election fraud in Arizona and nationally after November 3, 2020.
“Mayor Rudy Giuliani—one of the most effective prosecutors in American history who took down the Mafia, cleaned up the streets of New York, and locked up corrupt public officials—is proud to stand up for the countless Americans who raised legitimate concerns surrounding the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election,” an advisor to Mr. Giuliani told The Independent in a statement.
Mark Meadows, who served as Donald Trump’s chief of staff in 2020, also appears to be named in the indictment. He is described as a chief of staff in 2020 who liaised with the Trump campaign. An attorney for Mr. Meadows told The Washington Post that his client hadn’t seen the indictment yet but suggested that if the former chief of staff is named, “it is a blatantly political and politicized accusation and will be contested and defeated.”
The indictment refers to Donald Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator.
The Arizona case is part of a broader pattern of legal actions across the country related to the final days between the 2020 election and the inauguration of Joe Biden. In Michigan, Trump, Meadows, and Giuliani are unindicted co-conspirators in a case filed last summer that accuses 16 individuals of falsely certifying the state for Trump.
In Georgia, three alleged fake electors are part of a broader case against Trump and his associates for attempting to overturn the 2020 election results, where Biden won by a narrow margin.
The indictments highlight the mounting legal challenges facing Donald Trump. In New York, he is involved in an unprecedented criminal trial related to alleged hush money payments to women with damaging allegations during the 2016 election. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court will soon hear arguments to determine whether presidential immunity protects Donald Trump from a federal case alleging his role in a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.
