(RepublicanJournal.org) – An Arizona grand jury has indicted 18 people, including key allies of former president Donald Trump, on charges of conspiracy, fraud, and forgery. All the charges relate to the 2020 presidential election. Trump himself is named as an “unindicted conspirator” in the indictment.
Indictments Target “Fake Electors”
On December 14, 2020, eleven people met at the headquarters of the Arizona Republican Party and signed a certificate naming them as the state’s electors to the Electoral College, even though the state had already certified Joe Biden’s electors. The certificate was organized by a pro-Trump group, AZ Protect the Vote, which was unhappy that then-governor Doug Ducey (R) refused to support Trump’s attempts to overturn the election result in the state. In the end, it didn’t accomplish anything and was never going to; faced with two sets of electors the Electoral College went with the set that was certified and ignored the one that wasn’t.
Then, last January, Democrat Kristin Mayes became Arizona’s new attorney general. Despite the “conspiracy” having been little more than a publicity stunt, she decided to open an investigation into it. That gathered pace in October, when Kenneth Chesebro, who had come up with the idea of putting forward alternate electors, pleaded guilty in the Georgia electoral interference case and started cooperating with investigators. That let Mayes start investigating out-of-state figures linked to the case.
Grand Jury Reaches Decision
On April 23, the 93rd State Grand Jury, set up by Mayes to investigate the case, filed indictments against 18 people. Seven of the names have been redacted in the publicly available version of the indictment but former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani is known to be one of them, as is former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Five other Trump staffers — Christina Bobb, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Boris Epshteyn, and Mike Roman — have also been indicted, as have all 11 of the “fake electors.” These include Kelli Ward, the former chair of the Arizona Republican Party; State Senators Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern; Tyler Bowyer, COO of Turning Point USA and member of the Republican National Committee; and the chairs of the Cochise County and Gila County Republican Parties.
There are nine charges listed on the indictment: One count of conspiracy, one of “fraudulent schemes and artifices” and seven of “fraudulent schemes and practices,” all of them felonies. All those named have been indicted on all nine counts.
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