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2020 Election FRAUD-Giuliani Indicted For Role in Trumps' Arizona Fake-Elector
Rudy Giuliani Indicted For Role in Arizona Fake-Elector Scheme
Ex-New York mayor last of 17 defendants to be served in plot to overturn Donald Trumps' election loss to Joe Biden in 2020
The Guardian 19 MAY 2024
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is the last of 17 defendants to be served an indictment in Arizona’s fake-elector case for his role in an attempt to overturn former president Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, the Arizona attorney general said.
Kris Mayes posted the news regarding the Trump-aligned lawyer on her X account late Friday.“The final defendant was served moments ago. @RudyGiuliani nobody is above the law,” Mayes wrote.
The attorney general’s spokesperson, Richie Taylor, said in an email to the Associated Press on Saturday that Giuliani faces the same charges as the other defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.
Earlier Friday evening, Giuliani had tweeted a taunting message alongside a photo of himself surrounded by smiling friends. “If Arizona authorities can’t find me by tomorrow morning,” he wrote in a now-deleted tweet, “1. They must dismiss the indictment; 2. They must concede they can’t count votes.”
Hours later, he was served notice of the indictment.
Giuliani’s political adviser, Ted Goodman, confirmed Giuliani was served Friday night after his 80th birthday celebration as he was walking to his car.
The indictment comes just days after Giuliani was suspended by WABC, a New York radio station for attempting to use his show to continue perpetuating the lie that Trump lost the 2020 election due to electoral fraud.
It also comes after Giuliani filed for bankruptcy in December 2023. The filing came after he was ordered to pay $148m in a defamation case brought against him by two Georgia poll workers whom he falsely accused of being involved in election subversion.
Earlier this month, Giuliani’s lawyers said in a court filing that “nobody seems interested” in helping the former New York mayor meet accounting obligations in his bankruptcy case.
“We look forward to full vindication soon,” Goodman said in a statement Saturday.
The indictment alleges that Giuliani “pressured” Arizona legislators and the Maricopa county board of supervisors to change the outcome of Arizona’s election and that he was responsible for encouraging Republican electors in Arizona and six other contested states to vote for Trump.
Taylor said an unredacted copy of the indictment will be released Monday. He added Giuliani is expected to appear in court in Phoenix Tuesday unless he is granted a delay by the court.
Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, is among others who have been indicted in the case.
Neither Meadows nor Giuliani were named in the redacted grand jury indictment released earlier because they had not been served with it, but they were readily identifiable based on descriptions in the document. The Arizona attorney general’s office said Wednesday that Meadows had been served and confirmed that he was charged with the same counts as the other named defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.
With the indictments, Arizona becomes the fourth state where allies of the former president have been charged with using false or unproven claims about voter fraud related to the election.
Giuliani was also indicted last year by a grand jury in Georgia, where he is accused of spearheading Trump’s efforts to compel state lawmakers in Georgia to ignore the will of voters and illegally appoint pro-Trump electoral college electors.
Among the defendants in the Arizona case are 11 Arizona Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring that Trump won in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election — including a former state GOP chair, a 2022 US Senate candidate and two sitting state lawmakers.
The other defendants are Mike Roman, who was Trump’s director of election day operations, and four attorneys accused of organizing an attempt to use fake documents to persuade Congress not to certify Biden’s victory: John Eastman, Christina Bobb, Boris Epshteyn and Jenna Ellis.
Trump himself was not charged but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator.
The 11 people who had been nominated to be Arizona’s Republican electors met in Phoenix on 14 December 2020 to sign a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and claiming that Trump carried the state. A one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.
Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.
Eastman, who devised a strategy to try to persuade Congress not to certify the election, became the first person charged in Arizona’s fake-elector case to be arraigned on Friday. He pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.
Eastman made a brief statement outside the courthouse, saying the charges against him should never have been filed.
“I had zero communications with the electors in Arizona [and] zero involvement in any of the election litigation in Arizona or legislative hearings. And I am confident that with the laws faithfully applied, I will be fully exonerated at the end of this process,” Eastman said. He declined to make further comment.
Arraignments are scheduled 21 May for 12 other people charged in the case, including nine of the 11 Republicans who had submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring Trump had won Arizona.
The Arizona indictment said Eastman encouraged the GOP electors to cast their votes in December 2020, unsuccessfully pressured state lawmakers to change the election’s outcome in Arizona and told then vice-president Mike Pence that he could reject Democratic electors in the counting of electoral votes in Congress on 6 January 2021.
Who Was Indicted in The Arizona Fake Electors Case? 18 People Face Charges
In April 2024, a grand jury in Maricopa County indicted 11 Arizona Republicans and seven top aides to Donald Trump on felony charges stemming from a plan to keep him in the White House by falsely certifying he won the state in 2020. In reality, voters in the Grand Canyon State narrowly favored Joe Biden.
The indictment alleges the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to prevent "the lawful transfer of the presidency of the United States, keeping President Donald J. Trump in office against the will of Arizona voters, and depriving Arizona voters of their right to vote and have their votes counted."
The defendants in the case, which was brought by Attorney General Kris Mayes' office, face multiple felony counts, including conspiracy, forgery and fraud. If convicted, the crimes could carry prison time, though state law allows for less severe penalties, including probation, depending on a defendant's circumstances, like past criminal history.
Who Are The Indicted Fake Electors in Arizona?
The 11 fake electors are each charged with nine criminal counts, including conspiracy, fraudulent schemes and artifices, fraudulent schemes and practices, and six counts of forgery. The indicted fake electors are:
Tyler Bowyer, an executive with Turning Point USA and Republican National Committee member
Nancy Cottle, chair of the Arizona Trump electors
State Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek
State Sen. Anthony Kern, R-Glendale
Jim Lamon, former U.S. Senate candidate
Robert Montgomery, former chair of the Cochise County Republican Committee
Samuel Moorhead, former leader of the Gila County Republican Party
Loraine Pellegrino, secretary of the Arizona Trump electors
Greg Safsten, former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party
Kelli Ward, former chair of the Arizona Republican Party
Michael Ward, Kelli Ward's husband and GOP activist
Who Are The Trump Aides Indicted in Arizona?
In addition to the 11 fake electors, seven Trump allies and lawyers have been indicted on charges that they aided the effort to circumvent the result of the Arizona election. Several face prosecution in other states in similar cases.
The Trump allies indicted in Arizona are:
Christina Bobb, attorney for the Trump campaign
John Eastman, attorney for Trump who was an architect of the plan to change the outcome of the election in six contested states
Jenna Ellis, attorney for the Trump campaign who encouraged the Arizona Legislature to change the outcome of the election
Boris Epshteyn, attorney and adviser to the 2016 and 2020 Trump campaign
Rudy Giuliani, attorney for Trump and former mayor of New York City
Mark Meadows, Trump's chief of staff in 2020
Michael Roman, director of "election day operations" for Trump's campaign, according to the indictment
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