This is a developing story.
On Wednesday, a state grand jury in Arizona handed down indictments against Trump 2020 alternate electors, GOP state legislators, former Arizona GOP chairwoman Kelli Ward, and others.
Arizona’s Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes (who undeniably stole her 2022 election from Abe Hamadeh) made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon. She defended her actions and the timing of the indictment, which comes just months before the 2024 general election. It’s clear that these charges serve as a warning to anyone considering challenging the 2024 election.
BREAKING NOW:⚠️18 people charged in Arizona ELECTION INTERFERENCE PROBE including Trump allies Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis..
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) April 24, 2024
DEVELOPING.. pic.twitter.com/QCLmr5qBnF
“We conducted a thorough and professional investigation over the past 13 months into the fake electors scheme in our state,” Attorney General Kris Mayes said in her announcement of the charges. “I understand for some of you today didn’t come fast enough. And I know I’ll be criticized by others for conducting this investigation at all. But as I’ve stated before, and we’ll say here again, today, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined.”
Watch:
More details from Politico:
An Arizona grand jury has indicted 18 allies of Donald Trump for their efforts to subvert the 2020 election — including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Boris Epshteyn.
The indictment, which includes felony counts of conspiracy, fraud and forgery, also describes Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator.
“Defendants and unindicted coconspirators schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency to keep Unindicted Coconspirator 1 in office against the will of Arizona’s voters,” the 58-page indictment reads.
The names of seven of the defendants, including Meadows, Giuliani and Epshteyn, are redacted, but the document makes clear who they are by describing their roles. Others include attorneys John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Christina Bobb, as well as Trump 2020 campaign operative Mike Roman.
Ken Chesebro, an attorney who helped devise Trump’s post-election strategy, is described as “unindicted coconspirator 4.”
The only defendants whose names are visible in the version of the indictment released by the Arizona attorney general’s office Wednesday evening are the 11 Republicans who falsely posed as the state’s presidential electors despite Joe Biden’s narrow victory there. Among them: former Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward, state senators Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern, and Arizona’s RNC committeeman Tyler Bowyer.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, has been helming the aggressive investigation. Though she initially appeared to be focused primarily on the false electors, in recent months it became clear that the scope of the probe was broader than previously understood and swept up prominent Trump allies at the national level.
Mayes is the fifth prosecutor to bring criminal charges over the sprawling, multi-state bid by Trump and his allies to upend the 2020 results. Special counsel Jack Smith has charged Trump with federal crimes for those efforts. Prosecutors in Georgia have charged Trump and many of his allies for their efforts to overturn the results in that state, including the fake electors plot. Prosecutors in Michigan and Nevada have also charged Republicans who posed as fake electors in those states.
Democrat prosecutors in other states are also targeting Trump’s alternate electors.
In July Democrat Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged 16 dueling “Trump electors” in the state’s 2020 election.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis recently indicted three of Trump’s alternate electors in Georgia as part of her RICO case against Trump.
The full list of the 18 indicted individuals from Grok:
- Kelli Ward
- Tyler Bowyer
- Nancy Cottle
- Jacob Hoffman
- Anthony Kern
- James Lamon
- Robert Montgomery
- Samuel Moorhead
- Lorraine Pellegrino
- Greg Safsten
- Michael Ward
- Mark Meadows
- Rudy Giuliani
- Boris Epshteyn
- Jenna Ellis
- Christina Bobb
- John Eastman
- Mike Roman
The defendants face decades in prison if convicted.
