AZ Indicts Giuliani, Meadows, 16 Others04/25 06:16

   

   PHOENIX (AP) -- An Arizona grand jury has indicted former President Donald 
Trump 's chief of staff Mark Meadows, lawyer Rudy Giuliani and 16 others for 
their roles in an attempt to overturn Trump's loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 
election.

   The indictment released Wednesday names 11 Republicans who submitted a 
document to Congress falsely declaring that Trump won Arizona in 2020. They 
include the former state party chair, a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate and two 
sitting state lawmakers, who are charged with nine counts each of conspiracy, 
fraud and forgery.

   The identities of seven other defendants, including Giuliani and Meadows, 
were not immediately released because they had not yet been served with the 
documents. They were readily identifiable based on descriptions of the 
defendants, however.

   Trump himself was not charged but was referred to as an unindicted 
co-conspirator.

   With the indictments, Arizona becomes the fourth state where allies of the 
former president have been charged with using false or unproven claims about 
voter fraud related to the election. Heading into a likely November rematch 
with Biden, Trump continues to spread lies about the last election that are 
echoed by many of his supporters.

   "I will not allow American democracy to be undermined," Democratic state 
Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a video released by her office. "It's too 
important."

   The indictment alludes to Giuliani as an attorney "who was often identified 
as the Mayor" and spread false allegations of election fraud. Another defendant 
is referred to as Trump's " chief of staff in 2020," which describes Meadows.

   Descriptions of other unnamed defendants point to Mike Roman, who was 
Trump's director of Election Day operations; John Eastman, a lawyer who devised 
a strategy to try to persuade Congress not to certify the election; and 
Christina Bobb, a lawyer who worked with Giuliani.

   A lawyer for Eastman, Charles Burnham, said his client is innocent. Bobb did 
not respond to a text message seeking comment, nor did a lawyer who is 
representing Roman in a case in Georgia.

   George Terwilliger, a lawyer representing Meadows, said he had not yet seen 
the indictment but if Meadows is named, "it is a blatantly political and 
politicized accusation and will be contested and defeated." Giuliani's 
political adviser, Ted Goodman, decried what he called "the continued 
weaponization of our justice system."

   The 11 people who had been nominated to be Arizona's Republican electors met 
in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were "duly 
elected and qualified" electors and claiming that Trump carried the state. A 
one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the 
Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress 
and the National Archives, where it was ignored.

   Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes. Of the eight lawsuits that 
unsuccessfully challenged Biden's victory in the state, one was filed by the 11 
Republicans.

   Their lawsuit asked a judge to de-certify the results that gave Biden his 
victory in Arizona and block the state from sending them to the Electoral 
College. In dismissing the case, U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa said the 
Republicans lacked legal standing, waited too long to bring their case and 
"failed to provide the court with factual support for their extraordinary 
claims."

   Days after that lawsuit was dismissed, the 11 participated in the 
certificate signing.

   The Arizona charges come after a string of indictments against fake electors 
in other states.

   In December, a Nevada grand jury indicted six Republicans on felony charges 
of offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument in 
connection with false election certificates. They have pleaded not guilty.

   Michigan's Attorney General in July filed felony charges that included 
forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery against 16 Republican fake 
electors. One had charges dropped after reaching a cooperation deal, and the 15 
remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty.

   Three fake electors also have been charged in Georgia alongside Trump and 
others in a sweeping indictment accusing them of participating in a 
wide-ranging scheme to illegally overturn the results. They have pleaded not 
guilty.

   In Wisconsin, 10 Republicans who posed as electors settled a civil lawsuit, 
admitting their actions were part of an effort to overturn Biden's victory. 
There is no known criminal investigation in Wisconsin.

   Trump was indicted in August in federal court over efforts to cling to power 
after his defeat, including the fake electors scheme. The U.S. Supreme Court on 
Thursday will hear arguments on his claim in that case that he can't be 
prosecuted for acts he committed while serving as president.

   In early January, New Mexico Attorney General Ral Torrez said that state's 
five Republican electors cannot be prosecuted under the current law. In New 
Mexico and Pennsylvania, fake electors added a caveat saying the election 
certificate was submitted in case they were later recognized as duly elected, 
qualified electors. No charges have been filed in Pennsylvania.

   In Arizona, Mayes' predecessor, Republican Mark Brnovich, conducted an 
investigation of the 2020 election, but the fake elector allegations were not 
part of that examination, according to Mayes' office.

   The so-called fake electors facing charges are Kelli Ward, the state GOP's 
chair from 2019 until early 2023; state Sen. Jake Hoffman; Tyler Bowyer, an 
executive of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA who serves 
on the Republican National Committee; state Sen. Anthony Kern, who was 
photographed in restricted areas outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 
attack and is now a candidate in Arizona's 8th Congressional District; Greg 
Safsten, a former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party; energy 
industry executive James Lamon, who lost a 2022 Republican primary for a U.S. 
Senate seat; Robert Montgomery, chairman of the Cochise County Republican 
Committee in 2020; Samuel Moorhead, a Republican precinct committee member in 
Gila County; Nancy Cottle, who in 2020 was the first vice president of the 
Arizona Federation of Republican Women; Loraine Pellegrino, past president of 
the Ahwatukee Republican Women; and Michael Ward, an osteopathic physician who 
is married to Kelli Ward.

   In a statement, Hoffman accused Mayes of weaponizing the attorney general's 
office in bringing the case but didn't directly comment on the indictment's 
allegations.

   "Let me be unequivocal, I am innocent of any crime, I will vigorously defend 
myself, and I look forward to the day when I am vindicated of this naked 
political persecution by the judicial process," Hoffman said.

   None of the others responded to either phone, email or social media messages 
from The Associated Press seeking comment.