It's off to court for Arizona's fake electors and Trump allies. About darn time

The suspected architect of the fake elector scheme was in Maricopa County Superior Court on Friday morning, arraigned on felony charges of fraud, forgery and conspiracy.

John Eastman was, in the words of former Vice President Mike Pence, the “serpent in the ear” of Donald Trump – the attorney who persuaded Trump to go along with ultimately failed plan to try to stop the transfer of power to Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2021.

He’s also the guy who called the-House Speaker Rusty Bowers just two days earlier, urging him to go along with the scheme and call in the state Legislature to “decertify” Arizona’s vote.

"Just do it and let the courts figure it all out," he said, according to Bowers' recount of the conversation.

Fortunately, Bowers, one of few statesmen in this sordid story, took a pass, noting “I took an oath … to do what you do would be counter to my oath.”

A parade of Arizona's fake electors to come

Most of the rest of the 18 people charged in Arizona, including all 11 fake electors, will be arraigned on Tuesday.

Expect to see an all-star lineup that includes state Sens. Anthony Kern and Jake Hoffman, former state GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward and Turning Point Action’s Tyler Bowyer, along with Trump advisers Jenna Ellis, Boris Epshteyn, Christina Bobb and Mark Roman, who served as the Trump campaign’s director of election day operations.

Former chief of staff Mark Meadows will be arraigned next month.

In all, an entire who’s who of ewww.

Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani is still hiding (in plain sight). I picture a pair of handcuffs in his future.

Some will be defiant ... and some will flip

Arraignment is perfunctory affair, held in the courthouse basement. Don’t expect any surprise guilty pleas as the criminally charged enter their not-guilty pleas and get their mugshots and fingerprints taken.

Then the boldest among them come outside to proclaim their victimhood.

Cue Eastman on Friday: “I had zero communications with any of the electors in Arizona. Zero involvement with any of the litigation or the legislative hearings in Arizona. We will proceed to trial, and I'm confident, if the law is faithfully applied, I will be fully exonerated.”

And I’m confident that soon we will start seeing some of these 18 characters turn on their fellow "patriots", to avoid some quality time in prison.

The only question now, is which one will be the first to start talking.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona's fake elector schemers head to court. It's about time