Current:Home > NewsFormer Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward and others set to be arraigned in fake elector case -Dynamic Wealth Solutions
Former Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward and others set to be arraigned in fake elector case
View
Date:2025-04-13 05:39:39
PHOENIX (AP) — Former Arizona Republican Party chair Kelli Ward and at least 11 other people are set to be arraigned 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 Tuesday, 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.
veryGood! (22362)
Related
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- Kenny Pickett sees Eagles trade as 'reset,' 'confident' in leaving Steelers on good terms
- Missing Wisconsin toddler's blanket found weeks after he disappeared
- Chicago sues gunmaker Glock over conversions to machine guns
- 'Vanderpump Rules' star DJ James Kennedy arrested on domestic violence charges
- Love is Blind's Chelsea Blackwell Shares Update on Where She Stands With Jimmy Presnell
- Muslim students face tough challenges during Ramadan. Here's what teachers can do to help.
- See Jax Taylor Make His Explosive Vanderpump Rules Return—and Epically Slam Tom Sandoval
- Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
- Pro-Trump attorney released from custody after promising to turn herself in on Michigan warrant
Ranking
- Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
- Minnesota Lynx to retire Maya Moore's No. 23 jersey potentially against Caitlin Clark
- Men used AR-style rifles to kill protected wild burros in Mojave Desert, federal prosecutors say
- US men will shoot for 5th straight gold as 2024 Paris Olympics basketball draw announced
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- March Madness as we know it could be on the way out amid seismic changes in college sports
- Muslim students face tough challenges during Ramadan. Here's what teachers can do to help.
- Maryland university failed to protect students from abusive swim coach, violating Title IX, feds say
Recommendation
What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
How to catch and what to know about Netflix's new NFL series 'Receiver'
Dr. Dre says he had 3 strokes while in hospital for brain aneurysm: Makes you appreciate being alive
Massachusetts moves to protect horseshoe crabs during spawning
New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health
Wisconsin Supreme Court prepares to weigh in on recall election question
Federal Reserve may signal fewer interest rate cuts in 2024 after strong inflation reports
Olivia Culpo Reveals Her Non-Negotiable for Christian McCaffrey Wedding