Arizona grand jury indicts 18 over Trump ‘fake elector’ scheme
A grand jury indicted 18 of the former president’s allies for their alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
Several of former Donald Trump’s closest advisers, including Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, were indicted in Arizona after a year-long criminal investigation into their alleged efforts to overturn Trump’s November 2020 election defeat in the state.
Arizona Attorney-General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said on Wednesday that a state grand jury approved criminal charges against 11 Republicans who submitted a document to congress falsely declaring Mr Trump carried the battleground state.
Seven other people were also charged in the indictment, but their names were redacted because they hadn’t yet been served with court papers.
Portions of the indictment describing those seven individuals make clear they include Mr Giuliani, Trump’s former lawyer, and Mr Meadows, former White House chief of staff.
“I understand for some of you today didn’t come fast enough, and I know I’ll be criticised by others for conducting this investigation at all,” Ms Mayes said.
“But as I have stated before and will say here again today, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined. It’s too important.”
The Arizona charges come after a string of similar indictments in Nevada, Georgia and Michigan.
Every four years, Americans cast their votes not directly for presidential candidates, but for “electors” pledged to those candidates in the Electoral College.
In December of every election year, these electors meet in their respective states, cast their votes and send those votes to Congress for formal certification.
The 11 people who had been nominated to be Arizona’s Republican electors met in Phoenix on December 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.
Those 11 people have now been charged with crimes in Arizona, including fraud, forgery, and conspiracy. The defendants include Kelli Ward, who served as chair of the Arizona GOP during the 2020 election.
The Wall Street Journal
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