An Arizona grand jury indicted 18 people Wednesday in the ongoing investigation into an alleged attempt to use alternate electors after the 2020 presidential election as part of a wider alleged conspiracy to falsely declare then-President Donald Trump the winner, the state's attorney general announced.
The alleged fake electors and defendants named in the indictment were Kelli Ward, Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, Jacob Hoffman, Anthony Kern, James Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino, Gregory Safsten, and Michael Ward.
Hoffman and Kern are both Arizona state senators. Hoffman had in the past several weeks been pursuing a position with the RNC.
Hoffman told the Arizona Republic in a statement that he is "innocent of any crime," and "I look forward to the day when I am vindicated of this naked political persecution by the judicial process."
An attorney for Lamon also told the Arizona Republic the indictment is "a politically motivated prosecution."
Additional defendants' names were redacted from court documents because they had not yet been served, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, said. Some, however, could be identified by their descriptions in court documents.
The indictment referred to Trump as "Unindicted Coconspirator 1." Trump has consistently denounced such legal actions as "witch hunts."
It seems that an attorney identified as 'the Mayor' in the indictment is Rudy Giuliani. Jenna Ellis, another attorney who collaborated with Giuliani in promoting unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud, also appears to be mentioned in the documents.
One unnamed defendant is indicated as Trump's chief of staff in 2020, likely referring to Mark Meadows. Another unnamed defendant held the position of the Trump campaign's Director of Election Day Operations, a role held by Mike Roman.
George Terwilliger, the attorney representing Meadows, stated to The Associated Press that naming Meadows would be "a blatantly political and politicized accusation and will be contested and defeated."
Ted Goodman, a political advisor to Giuliani, expressed to the AP that the indictment demonstrates "the continued weaponization of our justice system."
The Arizona Republican Party criticized the indictments as a "blatant and unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial power" and stated that it "condemns these actions in the strongest terms."
The charges in the indictment include fraud, forgery, and conspiracy, classified as class 2, 4, and 5 felonies, according to Mayes.
Arizona is one of seven states that Trump lost in 2020 where the former president's allies allegedly attempted to create a fraudulent register of electors.
"Unwilling to accept" the fact that Biden won the 2020 presidential election, the defendants "schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency" by raising false claims of election fraud and organizing fake elector votes, the indictment said.
The alleged fraud was committed to prevent "the lawful transfer of the presidency of the United States," keeping "Trump in office against the will of Arizona voters, and depriving Arizona voters of their right to vote and have their votes counted," court documents said.
The Arizona indictments came as Trump and 18 of his associates face charges of racketeering, election fraud and other charges in Fulton County, Georgia, over an alleged effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, including the alternate elector scheme. That indictment alleged that some of the defendants solicited legislators to appoint new electors in other states besides Georgia, including Arizona.
Last year in August, a federal grand jury indicted the ex-president for his alleged involvement in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The indictment, which arose from special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the ex-president's post-2020 election actions, referenced a memo detailing a plan for Trump supporters to act as fraudulent electors.
The ex-president has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to these cases.
