An Arizona grand jury on Wednesday accusations were made against the so-called “fake voters”. In 2020, he supported then-President Donald Trump, as well as top Trump aides after a wide-ranging investigation into attempts to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state’s presidential election.
A month after the 2020 election, 11 Trump supporters gathered at the Arizona GOP headquarters in Phoenix. sign the certificate Claiming Arizona’s 11 Electoral College votes, Biden won the state by 10,457 votes and state officials certified his electors. The state Republican Party documented the signing of the certificate social media post He sent it to Congress and the National Archives.
Among those indicted is Kelly Ward, who served as chair of the Arizona GOP during the 2020 election and its immediate aftermath. He he tweeted After the attack on the US Congress on January 6, 2021: “Congress adjourned. Send the voter’s choice back to the legislature.” Ward was a consistent promoter of false claims that Arizona’s election results were rigged.
Others charged were: state legislators Anthony Kern and Jake Hoffman; Michael Ward, husband of Kelli Ward; Tyler Bowyer, the Republican National Committee’s Arizona committee and chief operating officer of Trump-aligned Turning Point USA; former Arizona GOP Executive Director Greg Safsten; former US Senate candidate Jim Lamon; Robert Montgomery, former head of the Cochise County GOP; and Republican Party activists Samuel Moorhead, Nancy Cottle, and Loraine Pellegrino.
Based on the description in the indictment, Trump appears to be known as “Unindicted Coconspirator 1.” The document includes redacted names of others charged in the case but not yet arraigned. According to descriptions in the indictment, two of them appear to be Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, and Mike Roman, a former Trump campaign and White House official.
Another passage describes attorney Kenneth Chesebro, one of the alleged plotters, as an unindicted conspirator. Chesebro He pleaded guilty in Georgia last year he, Trump and 17 other people in the state were charged with conspiracy. That too believed to be one of the unknown conspirators special prosecutor Jack Smith described Trump’s federal election interference lawsuit last year.
Arizona Attorney General Chris Mayes, a Democrat, led the investigation. He won the state’s attorney general nomination in November 2022, replacing Republican Mark Brnovich, a one-time Trump ally who later became vilified for not substantiating allegations of voter fraud in the state.
“We conducted a thorough and professional investigation into the fraudulent voter scheme in our state over the past 13 months,” Mayes said. video announcing the charges. “I understand some of you didn’t come early enough today. And I know I’m going to be criticized by others for doing this investigation in general. But as I’ve said before, and we’ll say it again here, today, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined.”
The Arizona charges are the latest example of Trump’s efforts to turn the 2020 election into a legal affair as he bids for re-election in 2024.
Arizona was one seven states where “alternative voters” signed fake documents claiming that Trump had won the states. Prosecutors have already charged “alternative voters”. Nevada, Georgia and Michigan.
Chesebro and others, including Trump’s legal counsel John EastmanIn the months following the 2020 election, he argued that then-Vice President Mike Pence could use the presence of alternative voters. Trump won the election he leads the counting of electoral votes in Congress on January 6.
Eastman wrote in a memo: “Finally, he declares that due to ongoing disputes in 7 states, there are no valid electors in those states. … At this point, Trump has 232 votes and Biden has 222. “Pence then declares President Trump re-elected.”
Trump lost Arizona by 11,000 votes. As Republican voters sent illegal certificates to Washington, Trump tried to pressure Maricopa County officials and other Arizona Republicans, including the then-state House speaker. Rusty Bowers and then – Govt. Doug Ducey.
Trump a phone call directly to Ducey as the governor certifies the state’s election results. Ducey silenced the call.
Mayes’ tenure as Arizona attorney general has been marked by Trump’s 2020 election and other election cases stemming from false allegations of fraud.
Last fall, Mayes accused Two local officials delaying certification of 2022 midterm election results in Cochise County. Officials voted against certifying the county’s election results within the statutory deadline after months of making baseless accusations about the election’s integrity. The district confirmed the results of the election only after the court’s decision.