What are the reasons why Meadows and Giuliani have been indicted in Arizona for the election subversion case?
Arizona has brought criminal charges against 18 people involved in the fake electoral scheme to try to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 election.
Arizona is the latest state to bring criminal charges against people who were a part of fake elector schemes in seven states which sought to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election. The indictment that was unsealed on Wednesday charges 18 people including 11 fake electors and seven Trump allies.
The names of the individuals included in the latter group were redacted in the court filings, but based on their descriptions in the indictment their identities have been revealed. Among them are former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former lawyer.
Both Giuliani and Meadows have also been indicted in the Georgia racketeering case along with Trump and sixteen other co-defendants. Four of them have already pled guilty including Atlanta-based bail bondsman Scott Hall and ex-Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell.
What are the reasons why Meadows and Giuliani have been indicted in Arizona for the election subversion case?
The charges against the 18 co-defendants in the Arizona indictment for that state’s fake elector scheme include conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges. Trump is currently listed as “Unindicted Coconspirator 1″ in the indictment. It is speculated that the state Attorney General Kris Mayes is awaiting the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity Trump has been pursuing before bringing charges against the former president.
The court filings state that Giuliani “spread false claims of election fraud in Arizona and nationally” after the 2020 election. “He pressured the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Arizona legislators to change the outcome of Arizona’s election and he was responsible for encouraging Republican electors in Arizona and in six other contested states to vote for Trump-Pence on December 14, 2020.”
Meadows, described as ‘Unindicted Coconspirator 1′s Chief of Staff in 2020′, “worked with members of the Trump Campaign to coordinate and implement the false Republican electors’ votes in Arizona and six other states,” according to the indictment. “[Redaction] was involved in the many efforts to keep Unindicted Coconspirator 1 in power despite his defeat at the polls.”
The other five redacted names in the indictment are believed to be Boris Epshteyn, a former White House aide who is currently one of his top legal strategists, as well as Christina Bobb, recently named senior counsel for election integrity at the RNC. As well as John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Mike Roman who are also co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case.
In all, the fake elector scheme was carried out in seven states including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Besides Arizona, so far there are criminal cases pending in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada as well.
The 10 fake electors in Wisconsin along with Chesebro reached a settlement in a civil case. As part of that agreement, a large trove of previously unseen communications was released that provided insight into the Trump campaign’s efforts to delegitimatize the official results of the 2020 election.