John Eastman pleads not guilty in Arizona Trump fake 2020 elector conspiracy case

May 17 (UPI) -- Lawyer and former Trump adviser John Eastman on Friday pleaded not guilty to several Arizona felonies charging conspiracy and forgeries in the 2020 pro-Trump fake electors scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Eastman is the first of 18 defendants tied to Trump's alleged efforts to negate the will of voters in the presidential election to be arraigned on the state criminal charges.

"I'm confident that with the laws faithfully applied, I will be fully exonerated," Eastman said after his arraignment in Phoenix.

A California judge ruled in March that Eastman should be disbarred for his actions to overturn the election.

Eastman is also a co-defendant with Donald Trump and others in Georgia in a criminal case charging an election conspiracy.

An Arizona grand jury indicted Eastman in April along with former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and others on the felonies for attempting to overturn election results in Arizona.

Also indicted in Arizona were Trump's close aide Boris Epshteyn and Christina Bobb, the top lawyer on "election integrity" for the Republican National Committee.

The indictment accuses 11 Republicans of illegally masquerading as the state's presidential electors, even though Joe Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.

The indictment said, "Unwilling to accept this fact, Defendants and un-indicted co-conspirators schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency to keep Un-indicted Co-conspirator 1 in office against the will of Arizona's voters. This scheme would have deprived Arizona voters of their right to vote and have their votes counted."

"Un-indicted co-conspirator 1" is former President Donald Trump, the person Eastman and the other defendants are accused of unlawfully working to keep in office.

The indictment said Eastman and the others charged carried out a series of allegedly illegal actions to overturn the state's election results.

A group of fake electors met at the headquarters of the Arizona Republican Party and signed documents to try to certify Arizona's vote for Trump and submitted the fake elector documents to Congress, according to the indictment.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said then in a recorded statement, "We're here because justice demands an answer to the efforts that the defendants and other un-indicted co-conspirators allegedly took to undermine the will of Arizona's voters during the 2020 presidential election."

She said they were indicted because she would "not allow American Democracy to be undermined."

The Arizona defendants face nine felony counts each for fraud, forgery and conspiracy.

Eastman helped devise the fake electors plan in battleground states to present false pro-Trump electors in an effort to block Electoral College certification in Congress.

Four states have filed criminal charges in the 2020 fake elector scheme.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed criminal charges against 16 fake electors for Trump in July.

She said they met covertly in Michigan Republican Party headquarters Dec. 14, 2020, during which they signed documents claiming to be qualified electors for Michigan.

"That was a lie," Nessel said. "They weren't the duly elected and qualified electors, and each of the defendants knew it."

In December 2023, Nevada charged six Republicans who claimed to be pro-Trump electors.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford said in a statement when the grand jury indicted the fake electors, "We cannot allow attacks on democracy to go unchallenged. Today's indictments are the product of a long and thorough investigation, and as we pursue this prosecution, I am confident that our judicial system will see justice done."