A grand jury indicted some significant friends of former president Donald Trump for their jobs in reversing the election results in 2020. These included former Trump attorney and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Arizona Republican head Kelli Ward, and previous White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Along with Ward, Meadows, and Giuliani, former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis and former Trump campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn, along with several members of the Arizona Republican Party, were among those indicted, according to the Washington Post.
Meadows, Giuliani, Ellis, and Epshteyn are among those who were indicted for allegedly attempting to help Trump receive Arizona’s electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election, which was more than three years ago.
Ward and the state senators of Arizona are examples. Long after they signed the paperwork certifying that Trump had won the election, Anthony Kern ( R ) and Jake Hoffman ( R ) were also charged.
A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found that President Joe Biden is trailing Trump by six or more points in several important swing states like Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina.
In Arizona, Trump led by seven points, receiving 49 percent of support from voters who indicated they would vote for him, while Biden received 42 percent.
In a video posted to X:, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes made the indictment public.
I will not allow American democracy to be undermined. It’s too important. The necessary amount of time was needed to thoroughly compile the details of the events that started nearly four years ago by the investigators and attorneys assigned to this case. I’m very proud of the work they’ve done so far, and they followed the facts where they led. We are here because the justice demands an answer to the alleged attempts by the defendants and other unindicted co-conspirators to stifle Arizona’s election-voting intentions. Arizona’s election was free and fair. Biden was chosen by the Arizona electorate.
A state grand jury, made up of everyday, regular Arizonans, has handed down felony indictments in the ongoing investigation into the fake elector scheme in Arizona. pic. twitter.com/Nu8GcD4ZqJ
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes ( @AZAGMayes ) April 24, 2024
The Arizona grand jury’s indictment is the most recent in a line of attempts to use the legal system to prosecute conservatives and Republicans, something that Trump and other Republicans enjoy doing as governor. Ron DeSantis ( R- FL ) and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ( R- CA ) have referred to as “weaponization“.
For their alleged roles in attempting to dispute the 2020 presidential election results, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel issued eight felonies, including conspiracy and election law forgery, in July 2023.
Months later, in December 2023, a Nevada grand jury indicted several top members of the state’s Republican Party. In connection with the “fake electors” plot, those indicted were accused of forging and providing false documents.
The so- called “fake electors” have maintained that they were acting earnestly, with the belief that Trump had won each of the states.
The presidential election of 1964 between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon is one example that Trump’s allies have cited.
Although Kennedy only managed to win the presidency, a recount took place in Hawaii as the initial results revealed that Nixon had won the state by 140 votes, according to Politico.
In addition to Nixon, three other electors for him gathered and signed a certificate claiming that Kennedy had won the state as a result of a recount that was taking place.
Electors for Trump and Kennedy’s supporters allegedly used the same language in their documents.
In this instance, the results were ultimately overturned in Kennedy’s favor.
Trump is currently facing 34 counts of allegedly falsifying business records in the first degree in relation to payments made to pornstar Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election, according to the indictment of several top ally members of the former president’s and Arizona GOP.
The eleven Arizona Republicans who served as alternate electors are among those indicted in the indictment, according to the , Arizona Mirror.
The eleven Republicans from Arizona are:
- Kelli Ward, the former Arizona Chair of the Republican Party, and her husband, Michael Ward.
- Arizona State Sen. Jake Hoffman
- Arizona State Sen. Anthony Kern
- Tyler Bowyer, Chief Operating Officer of Turning Point USA
- Nancy Cottle
- James Lamon
- Robert Montgomery
- Samuel Moorhead
- Lorraine Pellegrino
- Gregory Safsten
Trump allies who were reportedly indicted include Mark Meadows, Jenna Ellis, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Christina Bobb, a former Trump attorney, Boris Epshteyn, and Mike Roman, a former Trump campaign aide, according to the Washington Post.
