Arizona Grand Jury Indicts Former Trump Aides in Election Interference Case
A Maricopa County grand jury has indicted former Donald Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and lawyer Rudy Giuliani, along with 16 other individuals, in connection with an alleged election interference scheme. The indictment, released on Wednesday, accuses the defendants of submitting a false document to Congress falsely claiming that Trump had won the state of Arizona in the 2020 presidential election.
Eleven of the defendants, all Republicans, allegedly participated in a ceremony on December 14, 2020, to sign a certificate declaring themselves as ‘duly elected and qualified’ electors for Trump. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored. Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.
The charges against Meadows and Giuliani stem from their alleged roles in recruiting and coordinating the submission of false election certificates in multiple states as part of a broader effort to overturn the election results. The indictments come after similar charges were brought against fake electors in Nevada, Michigan, Georgia, and Wisconsin.
In related election-related news, two Republican officials in Arizona face felony charges for allegedly delaying the canvassing of the 2022 general election results.
Indicted Individuals
The 11 Republicans who allegedly signed the false election certificate are:
* Kelli Ward, former Arizona GOP chair
* Jake Hoffman, state senator
* Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point USA executive
* Anthony Kern, state senator
* Greg Safsten, former Arizona Republican Party executive director
* James Lamon, energy industry executive
* Robert Montgomery, former Cochise County Republican Committee chairman
* Samuel Moorhead, Republican precinct committee member
* Nancy Cottle, former Arizona Federation of Republican Women vice president
* Loraine Pellegrino, Ahwatukee Republican Women president
* Michael Ward, osteopathic physician and husband of Kelli Ward
The seven other defendants who have not yet been served with the charges include:
* An attorney ‘who was often identified as the Mayor’
* Trump’s ‘chief of staff in 2020’
* Five unnamed individuals
The indictment is a significant development in the ongoing investigations into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. It is unclear at this time what the next steps will be in the case, but the indictments are a clear indication that prosecutors are taking these allegations seriously.
