Former President Donald Trump has been named an unindicted co-conspirator in a new grand jury indictment against 11 Arizona Republicans who falsely claimed that Trump won the state in 2020.
Eleven Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring that Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election were charged Wednesday with conspiracy, fraud and forgery, becoming the fourth state to file charges against “false electors.” “.
Seven others were charged, but their names were redacted from records released by Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes.
His office said the names will be released after those people are charged.
Trump himself is, according to the document, “unindicted co-conspirator No. 1.”
Former President Donald Trump is photographed Tuesday in Manhattan Superior Court during Stormy Daniels’ hush money trial. A state investigator said the former president would be considered an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Michigan fake electors scheme.
The 11 people who had been nominated to be Arizona Republican electors gathered in Phoenix on December 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly chosen and qualified” electors and affirming that Trump won the state.
At the time, the Arizona Republican Party posted a one-minute video of the signing ceremony on social media. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.
Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes. Of the eight demands that unsuccessfully challenged Biden’s victory in the state, one was submitted by the 11 Republicans who would later sign the certificate declaring Trump the winner.
Their lawsuit asked a judge to decertify the results that gave Biden his victory in Arizona and block the state from sending them to the Electoral College.
In dismissing the case, U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa said the Republicans lacked legal standing, waited too long to present their case and “failed to provide the court with factual support for their extraordinary claims.”
Days after that lawsuit was dismissed, the 11 Republicans participated in the signing of the minutes.
The Arizona charges come after a series of allegations against false voters in other states.
In December, a Nevada grand jury indicts six Republicans for felony counts of offering a false instrument to present and issuing a forged instrument in connection with false electoral certificates. They have pleaded not guilty.
Michigan Attorney General in July filed felony charges that included forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery against 16 false Republican electors.
One had charges dropped after reaching a cooperation agreement, and the remaining 15 defendants pleaded not guilty.
A state investigator testified Wednesday that he considers former President Donald Trump, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani unindicted co-conspirators in the fake Michigan electors plot. .
Howard Shock, whose work led to forgery charges against more than a dozen people in Michigan, was being questioned Wednesday in Lansing as part of a hearing Wednesday to determine whether there is enough evidence to order a trial.
A defense attorney, Duane Silverthorn, offered a number of names and asked Shock if they were “unindicted co-conspirators,” meaning they were not charged but could have been part of an alleged plot to put the electoral votes of Michigan in Trump’s column.
Shock answered “yes” to Trump, Meadows, Giuliani and some high-ranking state Republicans.
In Michigan, authorities said more than a dozen Republicans sent certificates to Congress falsely declaring that they were electors and that Trump was the winner of the 2020 election in the state, even though the results showed he had lost.
Trump is in court this week over Stormy Daniels’ hush money case after the jury selection process concluded last week.
In Georgia, Trump, Giuliani and others They are charged with conspiracy related to the filing of a Republican elector certificate in that state after the 2020 election.
Meadows is also charged in Georgia, but not in relation to the electoral plan. They have pleaded not guilty.
An indictment by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith accusing Trump of conspiring to overturn the election also accuses the former president of a phony election scheme and identifies six unnamed, unindicted co-conspirators, including Giuliani.
In Wisconsin, ten Republicans who posed as voters settled a civil lawsuit, admitting that his actions were part of an effort to overturn Biden’s victory. There is There are no known criminal investigations in Wisconsin..
Trump was also indicted in federal court in August over the fake elector scheme.
The prosecution claims that when Trump could not persuade state officials to illegally change the election, he and his Republican allies began recruiting a list of fake electors in battleground states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) to sign fake certificates. claiming that he, not Biden, had won the states from him.
In early January, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the state’s five Republican electors cannot be prosecuted under current law.
In New Mexico and Pennsylvania, fake electors added a warning saying that the electoral certificate would be presented in case they were later recognized as qualified and duly elected electors. No charges have been filed in Pennsylvania.
In Arizona, Mayes’ predecessor, Republican Mark Brnovich, conducted an investigation into the 2020 election, but allegations of fake voters were not part of that examination, according to Mayes’ office.
In another election-related case brought by Mayes’ office, two Republican officials in a rural Arizona county who delayed the submission of 2022 general election results face felony charges.
TO grand jury indicted Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby in November on one count each of conspiracy and interference with an election official. Both pleaded not guilty.
The Republicans facing charges are Kelli Ward, chairwoman of the state Republican Party from 2019 to early 2023; State Senator Jake Hoffman; Tyler Bowyer, executive of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA that is part of the Republican National Committee; State Senator Anthony Kern, who was photographed in restricted areas outside the US Capitol during the January 6 attack and is now a candidate in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District; Greg Safsten, former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party; energy industry executive James Lamon, who lost the 2022 Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat; Robert Montgomery, 2020 Cochise County Republican Committee Chairman; Samuel Moorhead, Republican precinct committeeman in Gila County; Nancy Cottle, who in 2020 was the first vice president of the Arizona Federation of Republican Women; Loraine Pellegrino, president of Ahwatukee Republican Women; and Michael Ward, an osteopathic doctor who is married to Kelli Ward.