Dem files ethics complaint against 2 GOP senators indicted as fake electors for Trump

Arizona's 11 fake electors sign a document in Phoenix on Dec. 14 2020, falsely claiming that they were the state's electors and that Donald Trump won the presidential election in Arizona. Screenshot via AZGOP

The two GOP state senators who were indicted last month for being fake electors who tried to help Donald Trump steal the 2020 election in Arizona are now facing an ethics complaint.

Democratic Sen. Brian Fernandez wants the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate Republican Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern. In a complaint filed Monday, Fernandez says the pair have broken the Senate’s rules by allegedly committing crimes. 

“Not only do these allegations show shocking and horrifically bad judgment and conduct by Senators Hoffman and Kern, but if proven true, they also show criminal intent to defraud not only the U.S. Congress, the Archivist of the United State, the Chief Judge of the District Court of Arizona, the Arizona Secretary of State, the residents of Arizona and, of course the American people,” Fernandez wrote in his complaint. 

Attorney General Kris Mayes’ investigation in the fake elector scheme led to a grand jury indictment of 18 people, including all 11 fake electors, for their actions related to the plot concocted by Trump attorneys to keep the former president in office after his loss to Joe Biden. 

All 18 of those indicted are charged with conspiracy, fraudulent schemes and artifices, fraudulent schemes and practices and forgery, all felonies. 

The grand jury indicted the fake electors for signing bogus documents claiming that they were Arizona’s certified electors and that Trump won the 2020 election. Georgia, Michigan and Nevada have already brought charges against fake electors in their states with Wisconsin still investigating possible charges. 

In an interview with the Arizona Mirror, Fernandez said he wants the two men to be temporarily removed from committee assignments as the case works its way through the court. 

He said it is about maintaining the sanctity of the Senate. 

“For me, it boils down to how we should act as senators,” Fernandez said. “If we’re indicted by a court, we should step down or be forced to step down from our committee posts.” 

Both Hoffman and Kern are committee chairmen: Hoffman is the chair of both the Government Committee and the Director Nominations Committee, while Kern heads up the Judiciary Committee. 

Fernandez’s 17-page complaint cites the Senate Ethics Committee’s own rules, which state that the committee has the obligation to conduct an investigation if a senator’s conduct is found to violate the law or “adversely reflects upon the Senate.” The committee hasn’t met yet this year. 

The Ethics Committee is led by Trump-endorsed Sen. David Farnsworth, a Mesa Republican who has admitted to believing in the QAnon conspiracy theory. 

Fernandez’s complaint details the election fraud lies spread by the Trump campaign in the lead up to and aftermath of the 2020 election, and claims that the senators should have known the president’s claims were not true. 

“These were lies that any civic minded individual who was paying attention could have picked out, and they were lies that should have been recognized by a then sitting member and a newly elected member of the Arizona House of Representatives,” the complaint says. 

However, both Kern and Hoffman were actively engaged in spreading those falsehoods after the 2020 election. In addition to being a fake elector, Hoffman’s company, Rally Forge, played an active role in spreading election misinformation. 

Hoffman and Kern have both espoused their innocence and alleged that Mayes timed the grand jury indictments to help Biden’s reelection campaign. Kern also leads a special committee aimed at “investigating” Mayes’ office for “political prosecution” of Republicans. 

Fernandez said he is hopeful that Senate President Warren Petersen will take the complaint seriously, even though Petersen pushed back against a previous written request by Fernandez to remove the two men from their committees citing “due process.” 

“Give us the opportunity to air these issues,” Fernandez said, adding that he hopes the complaint won’t be dismissed outright. 

“We are innocent until proven guilty,” Fernadez acknowledged, “but we should be held to a higher standard.” 

Fernandez added that, if the two men are acquitted, then they should have their assignments back but until that point they should be removed to stymie any possible misuse of their positions to unjustly fight their indictment.

“This indictment was a huge procedural hurdle to be overcome and as such, the Ethics Committee should earnestly consider whether Senators Kern and Hoffman have violated a federal or state law, a Senate Ethics rule involving the conduct of a public office, or have violated the public trust, or engaged in any improper conduct that adversely reflects upon the Senate,” the complaint says. 

Kern is expected to appear in court Tuesday for the first time in the fake elector case. 

Kern in a written statement accused Fernandez of “playing politics again as usual” and criticized him for supporting abortion rights. Hoffman did not respond to a request for comment. When reached via text message, Petersen said he had no comment.

***UPDATE: This story has been updated to include a comment from Sen. Anthony Kern.

The post Dem files ethics complaint against 2 GOP senators indicted as fake electors for Trump appeared first on Arizona Mirror.