Former Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward and at least 11 other people are set to be arraigned Tuesday in a Phoenix courtroom on conspiracy, forgery and fraud charges stemming from their roles in an effort to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in Arizona to Joe Biden.
Quick Read
- High-Profile Arraignments Scheduled: Former Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward and at least 11 others, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, are set to be arraigned on charges of conspiracy, forgery, and fraud related to their roles in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in Arizona.
- Indictment Details: The charges unveiled last month target Republicans who falsely declared Trump had won Arizona and include five lawyers linked to Trump and two former aides. Biden officially won Arizona by over 10,000 votes.
- Giuliani’s Service of Notice: After efforts to serve Giuliani with the indictment were initially unsuccessful, he was served on the night of his 80th birthday.
- Scope of Charges: The indictment accuses Kelli Ward of organizing fake electors and urging then-Vice President Mike Pence to recognize them as legitimate, despite the unaltered election outcome.
- Eastman’s Arraignment: John Eastman, who proposed a strategy to challenge the election certification, has pleaded not guilty as the first defendant arraigned in this case.
- Trump Not Charged: Although not charged, Trump is mentioned as an unindicted co-conspirator in this Arizona case, marking the fourth state where Trump allies face charges over disputing the 2020 election results.
- Background of the Fake Electors: On December 14, 2020, the group claiming to be Arizona’s Republican electors signed a certificate falsely stating Trump won Arizona, which was submitted to Congress and the National Archives but ignored.
- Legal Challenges and Dismissals: The fake electors were involved in lawsuits attempting to overturn Biden’s win in Arizona, all of which were unsuccessful and dismissed by judges for lack of factual support.
- Additional Arraignments: Other defendants including state Sen. Jake Hoffman, former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, and attorney Boris Epshteyn have arraignments scheduled in June.
The Associated Press has the story:
Ex-Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward and others set to be arraigned in fake elector case
Newslooks- PHOENIX (AP) —
Former Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward and at least 11 other people are set to be arraigned Tuesday in a Phoenix courtroom on conspiracy, forgery and fraud charges stemming from their roles in an effort to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in Arizona to Joe Biden.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also is scheduled to be arraigned, though it’s unclear whether he’ll seek a postponement. Arizona authorities tried unsuccessfully over several weeks to serve Giuliani notice of the indictment against him. Giuliani was finally served Friday night as he was walking to a car after his 80th birthday celebration.
Arizona authorities unveiled the felony charges last month against Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring Trump, a Republican, had won Arizona. The defendants include five lawyers connected to the former president and two former Trump aides. Biden, a Democrat, won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.
The indictment alleges Ward, a former state senator who led the GOP in Arizona from 2019 until early 2023, organized the fake electors and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to declare them to be the state’s true electors. It says Ward failed to withdraw her vote as a fake elector even though no legal challenges changed the outcome of the presidential race in Arizona.
Last week, attorney John Eastman, who devised a strategy to try to persuade Congress not to certify the election, was the first defendant in the case to be arraigned, pleading not guilty to the charges.
Trump himself was not charged in the Arizona case but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Arizona is the fourth state where allies of the former president have been charged with using false or unproven claims about voter fraud related to the election.
The 11 people who claimed to be Arizona’s Republican electors met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and asserting that Trump carried the state. A one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.
Of eight lawsuits that unsuccessfully challenged Biden’s victory in the state, one was filed by the 11 fake Arizona electors, who had asked a federal judge to decertify the results and block the state from sending its results to the Electoral College. In dismissing the case, the judge concluded the Republicans had “failed to provide the court with factual support for their extraordinary claims.” Days after that lawsuit was dismissed, the 11 participated in the certificate signing.
Those set to be arraigned Tuesday are Ward; Tyler Bowyer, an executive of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA; state Sen. Anthony Kern; Greg Safsten, a former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party; Robert Montgomery, a former chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee; Samuel Moorhead, a Republican precinct committee member in Gila County; Nancy Cottle, who in 2020 was the first vice president of the Arizona Federation of Republican Women; Loraine Pellegrino, past president of the Ahwatukee Republican Women; Michael Ward, an osteopathic physician who is married to Ward; attorneys Jenna Ellis and Christina Bobb; and Michael Roman, who was Trump’s 2020 director of Election Day operations.
Arraignments are scheduled for June 6 for state Sen. Jake Hoffman; on June 7 for former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows; and on June 18 for Trump attorney Boris Epshteyn and for James Lamon, another Republican who claimed Trump carried the state.
