Eighteen allies of former President Donald Trump were indicted by an Arizona grand jury for alleged election interference in the 2020 presidential election.
Of the 18 total, 11 Republicans were named, while seven names were redacted. However, the document makes some names clear by describing their roles for allegedly attempting to subvert President Joe Biden‘s 2020 election victory. This includes former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Trump attorney Rudy Guiliani, and Trump campaign operative Mike Roman.
“Defendants and unindicted coconspirators schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency to keep Unindicted Coconspirator 1 in office against the will of Arizona’s voters,” according to the 58-page indictment, clearly referring to Trump as Unidentified Coconspirator 1.”
The names of seven defendants, including Meadows, Giuliani, and Roman, are redacted, but the document makes clear who they are in descriptions. Others indicted include attorneys Jenna Ellis, John Eastman, and Christina Bobb, as well as top campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn. The indictment alleges they aided in an unsuccessful attempt to award Arizona’s electoral votes to Trump rather than then-candidate Joe Biden after the 2020 election.
Also charged are Republicans who placed their signatures on paperwork on Dec. 14, 2020, which purported Trump was the rightful winner of the election, including former Arizona GOP Chairwoman Kelli Ward, states Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern, and Tyler Bowyer, a chief operating officer of Turning Point Action, a campaign arm of conservative group Turning Point USA.
Another attorney accused of helping Trump devise a plan to challenge the election results, Kenneth Chesebro, is described as “unindicted coconspirator 4.”
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced the indictment on Wednesday.
“As I have stated before, and we’ll say here again today, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined. It’s too important,” she said. “The investigators and attorneys assigned to this case took the necessary time to thoroughly piece together the details of the events that began nearly four years ago. They follow the facts where they lead, and I’m very proud of the work they’ve done to date.”
Mayes, a Democrat, has led the monthslong investigation. Her inquiry initially appeared to be focused on “fake electors” but in recent months sought a flurry of subpoenas to figures in Trump’s national circle.
The Arizona attorney general is the fifth prosecutor to bring criminal charges over an alleged multi-state effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump is facing federal indictment by special counsel Jack Smith for similar alleged efforts. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia has charged Trump and several allies with a similar fake electors scheme.
Attorneys Chesebro, Eastman, Giuliani, and Ellis, along with Meadows and Roman, were all indicted in the Georgia case as well. Chesebro and Ellis have accepted plea deals in the Willis case.
A lawyer for Eastman, Charles Burnham, told the Washington Examiner, “The phenomenon of partisan lawfare grows more troubling by the day.”
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“Professor Eastman is innocent of criminal conduct in Arizona or any other place and will fight these charges as he has all the other unjust accusations leveled against him,” Burnham added.
Additionally, officials in Nevada and Michigan have charged Republicans alleged to have served as fake electors in those states.
