Arizona’s attorney general says former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been charged along with 17 other defendants in the state’s fake voter case for his role in an effort to overthrow the former president. Donald Trump‘s loss for Joe Biden in the 2020 elections.
Attorney General of Arizona Kris Mayes posted the news about the Trump-connected lawyer on her X account late Friday.
‘The last defendant was summoned a few moments ago. @RudyGiuliani no one is above the law,” Mayes wrote.
Attorney General spokesman Richie Taylor said in an email to The Associated Press on Saturday that Giuliani faces the same charges as the other defendants, including charges of conspiracy, fraud and forgery.
Giuliani’s political adviser, Ted Goodman, confirmed that Giuliani was caught walking to the car on Friday evening after his 80th birthday.
“We look forward to a full vindication soon,” Goodman said in a statement Saturday.
The indictment alleges that Giuliani “pressured” Arizona lawmakers and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to change the outcome of Arizona’s elections and that he was responsible for encouraging Republican voters in Arizona and six other disputed states to vote for Trump.
Taylor said an unredacted copy of the indictment will be released Monday. He said Giuliani is expected to appear in court on Tuesday unless he is granted a stay by the court.
Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff, has been charged in this case.
Neither Meadows nor Giuliani were named in the redacted grand jury indictment that was previously released because they were not served with it, but they were easily identified from the descriptions in the document. The Arizona attorney general’s office said Wednesday that Meadows had been arrested and confirmed he was charged with the same charges as the other named defendants, including charges of conspiracy, fraud and forgery.
The charges make Arizona the fourth state where allies of the former president are accused of using false or unproven claims of voter fraud in connection with the election.
Giuliani was also indicted last year by a grand jury in Georgia, where he is accused of spearheading Trump’s efforts to force state lawmakers in Georgia to ignore the will of the voters and illegally elect pro-Trump voters of the electoral college.
Defendants include 11 Arizona Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring that Trump won the 2020 presidential election in Arizona — including a former state Republican Party chairman, a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate and two sitting state legislators. The other defendants are Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations, and four lawyers accused of attempting to use forged documents to convince Congress not to certify Biden’s victory: Johannes OostmanChristina Bobb, Boris Epshteyn and Jenna Ellis.
Trump himself was not charged, but was named an unindicted co-conspirator.
The 11 people nominated as Republican electors in Arizona gathered in Phoenix on December 14, 2020, to sign a certificate stating they were “duly chosen and qualified” electors and claiming Trump carried the state. A one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Republican Party of Arizona at the time. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.
Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.
Eastman, who devised a strategy to convince Congress not to certify the election, on Friday became the first person charged in the Arizona fake voter case. He pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, fraud and forgery.
Eastman made a brief statement outside the courthouse saying the charges against him should never have been filed.
“I had no communications whatsoever with Arizona voters (and) no involvement in Arizona election disputes or legislative hearings. And I am confident that if the laws are faithfully applied, I will be fully exonerated at the end of this trial,” Eastman said. He declined to comment further.
Indictments are scheduled for May 21 for 12 other people charged in the case, including nine of 11 Republicans who filed a document with Congress falsely declaring that Trump had won Arizona.
The Arizona indictment said Eastman encouraged Republican voters to cast ballots in December 2020, unsuccessfully pressured state lawmakers to change the outcome of Arizona’s election and told then-Vice President Mike Pence that he wanted Democratic voters could reject when counting electoral votes in Congress on January 6, 2021.
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Associated Press writers Jacques Billeaud and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix and Nomaan Merchant in Washington contributed to this report.
