Arizona prosecutors unsealed charges against 18 people this week for their alleged roles in trying to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Only 11 names have been revealed thus far as seven additional indicted co-conspirators have not yet been served, meaning that their names are redacted for the time being.
Those who were named include for Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward, state Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern, Chief Operating Officer of Turning Point Action Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, James Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino, Gregory Safsten, and Michael Ward.
The Washington Post reported that the seven others who were indicted include former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman and Christina Bobb, campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn and former campaign aide Mike Roman.
The defendants were charged with a range of felony crimes, including Conspiracy, Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices, Fraudulent Schemes and Practices, and Forgery.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a video statement that the election in the state was “free and fair” and that “the people of Arizona elected President Biden.”
“Unwilling to accept this fact, the defendants charged by the state grand jury, allegedly schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency,” she claimed. “After the general election on November 3, 2020, the defendants and other unindicted co-conspirators raised false claims of widespread voter fraud in Arizona to pressure elections officials to change the outcome of a transparent free and fair democratic election. Those efforts ultimately failed when officials stood firm, followed their statutory duties, and officially certified Arizona’s election on November 30, 2020.”
“The defendant Republican presidential electors allegedly plotting with additional defendants, then voted for Mr. Trump and Vice President Pence on December 14, 2020, falsely claiming to be the duly elected and qualified electors for President and Vice President of the United States from the state of Arizona,” she claimed. “These defendants deceived the citizens of Arizona by falsely claiming that those votes were contingent only on a legal challenge that would change the outcome of the election. In reality, the defendants intended that the false votes for Trump and Pence would encourage Vice President Pence to reject the certified Biden-Harris electors’ votes regardless of the result of any legal challenge.”
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Mayes noted that none of the legal challenges brought forth in the state were successful and said that “when combined with the six other states where Republican electors sent in uncertified votes for Trump-Pence, the defendants wanted Pence to declare Mr. Trump the outright winner of the election or to send the vote back to friendly legislators that would have certified Trump-Pence as the winner of the election.”
“That scheme failed when Vice President Pence upheld the rule of law and accepted all certified Biden-Harris votes on January 6, 2021,” she added. “A state grand jury made up of everyday regular Arizonans has now handed down felony indictments for all 11 Republican electors as well as several others connected to this scheme. These charges include fraud, forgery, and conspiracy. These charges are class two, four and five felonies. These are serious indictments.”
