Arizona fake elector scandal: Giuliani, Meadows, Republican politicians indicted
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PHOENIX - Indictments were announced on Wednesday by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes stemming from the fake elector scandal that took place in Arizona.
The indictment released Wednesday names 11 Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring that Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election. It shows seven other defendants whose names were not immediately released because they had not yet been served with the charges.
Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows and lawyer Rudy Giuliani are confirmed to be among those indicted in the election interference case.
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CLICK HERE TO READ THE INDICTMENT
The charges stem in part from an Arizona Republican electors meeting in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020 to sign a certificate saying they were "duly elected and qualified" electors and claimed Trump had carried the state. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.
Charges include felonies that range from fraud and forgery to conspiracy.
A state grand jury, made up of everyday, regular Arizonans, has handed down felony indictments in the ongoing investigation into the fake elector scheme in Arizona. pic.twitter.com/Nu8GcD4ZqJ
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) April 24, 2024
Several Arizona politicians were named in the suit others, including the following:
Kelli Ward - State GOP’s chair from 2019 until early 2023
Tyler Bowyer - Executive of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA who serves on the Republican National Committee
Nancy Cottle - First vice president of the Arizona Federation of Republican Women
Jacob Hoffman - State senator
Anthony Kern - State senator photographed in restricted areas outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack and is now a candidate for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District seat
James Lamon - Energy industry executive who lost a 2022 Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat
Robert Montgomery - Chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee during 2020
Samuel Moorhead - Republican precinct committee member in Gila County
Lorraine Pellegrino - President of the Ahwatukee Republican Women
Gregory Safsten - Former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party
Michael Ward - Osteopathic physician who is married to Kelli Ward
Who else was indicted in the Arizona fake elector scheme?
Five others were indicted, but their names were blacked out of records released by Mayes. Her office said the names will be released after they’re served with the charges.
On Aug. 16, Mayes confirmed that an investigation into the fake electors scandal in Arizona had begun.
"I will not allow American democracy to be undermined," Mayes said in the video released by her office. "It’s too important."
Response from Valley politicians
Arizona state senator Jake Hoffman issued the following response to the news of his indictment:
"Before an investigation had even been conducted and with no evidence, Kris Mayes declared that she believed electors such as myself were guilty of a crime, that it was her job to get Biden re-elected, and that she would control the timing of the indictment," said Senator Hoffman. "Now, unsurprisingly, we see that she has weaponized the once respected Attorney General’s office to deliver an indictment of her Republican political opponents years after the events at issue, long after other Democrat prosecutors made their decisions, and right before Arizona’s primary elections. 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."
The Arizona Republican Party also issued a response on X.
Our official statement regarding AG Kris Mayes' politically motivated indictments and blatant abuse of legal authority aimed to disrupt, distract, and interfere in the 2024 election. pic.twitter.com/9WeC0wtQN0
— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) April 25, 2024
What else should we know about the 2020 election in Arizona?
Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes. Of the eight lawsuits that unsuccessfully challenged Biden’s victory in Arizona, one was filed by the 11 Republicans who would later sign the certificate declaring Trump as the winner in the state.
Indictments against fake electors have also been made in Nevada, Michigan and Georgia.
Other election interference charges pressed by Arizona AG Mayes
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.
In another election-related case brought by Mayes’ office, two Republican officials in a rural Arizona county who delayed canvassing the 2022 general election results face felony charges. A grand jury indicted Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby in November on one count each of conspiracy and interference with an election officer. Both pleaded not guilty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.