Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ investigation into efforts to thwart Joe Biden’s 2020 victory here and keep former President Donald Trump in the White House was one of the nation’s most sweeping investigations into that behavior.
A state grand jury this week indicted the 11 Republicans who signed documents falsely claiming they were “duly elected and qualified” voters for Trump. Also charged were seven Trump allies and lawyers who allegedly helped with the scheme, some of whom are facing charges in other states that have already filed similar cases.
The names of the Trump campaign officials have been removed from the indictment, as have the charges against them. But the details in the document, compared to information already in the public sphere about the scheme, helped identify those defendants. Unless noted below, attorneys for many of the seven could not be reached by The Arizona Republic late Wednesday or declined to comment.
Based on the descriptions in the indictment, which are included below, the Trump allies who appear to have been charged were:
Rudy Giuliani
The indictment states that he is an attorney for Trump — identified as “unindicted co-conspirator 1” — and often known as “the mayor.” Giuliani is a former mayor of New York City.
The document notes that he led a rally in downtown Phoenix on Nov. 30, 2020, that was filled with false claims that election officials were not investigating whether the election results were accurate. And this defendant pressured Arizona lawmakers and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to “change the outcome of the Arizona election,” as well as similar pressure in six other states, the indictment said.
Johannes Oostman
Eastman was a Trump lawyer and an architect of the plan to change the outcome of the election in six disputed states. The indictment identifies him in part through pressure he put on former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Mesa Republican, to decertify the state’s legitimate electors. Bowers testified about the denial of that request before the congressional committee investigating Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Randy Miller is representing Eastman, but he had little to say Wednesday night until he could have a longer conversation with his client. “Dr. Of course, Eastman knows, but we haven’t had a chance to look into it yet,” said Miller, who is representing Eastman in a California disbarment case.
Trump fake voters: The grand jury indicts fake electors who wrongly declared Donald Trump the 2020 winner in Arizona
Boris Epshteyn
The indictment identifies this individual as an attorney and advisor to the 2016 and 2020 Trump campaigns who were involved in the scheme to cast counterfeit voter ballots “to impede the certification process” during the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress 2021.
Epshteyn pleaded guilty in Scottsdale City Court to disorderly conduct and served probation after a woman and her sister accused him of repeatedly groping them at a Scottsdale nightclub in 2021. The conviction was overturned by the court in January 2023.
Christina Bobb
According to the indictment, identified as an attorney for the Trump campaign, this defendant, a former One America News personality, “made false claims of widespread election fraud in Arizona and six other states.” She encouraged the Arizona Legislature to change the outcome of the election and “she also encouraged Pence to accept the fake votes of Republican voters in Arizona on January 6, 2021.”
Jenna Ellis
The indictment alleges that Ellis lobbied Republican voters in Arizona to “ignore the popular vote” and “helped orchestrate the fake Republican voter votes in Arizona on December 14, 2020.” Ellis pleaded guilty in a similar case brought by prosecutors in Georgia, USA Today reports, and was placed on probation.
Michael Romein
Roman was “the director of election day operations” for Trump’s campaign. According to the indictment, he worked closely with others to arrange the fake voter votes in Arizona and other states. Roman is also charged in a similar case in Georgia.
Mark Weiden
This defendant, Trump’s chief of staff in 2020, worked with Trump campaign staffers to “coordinate and execute the fraudulent votes of Republican voters in Arizona and six other states,” according to the indictment.
Meadows was charged with contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena from the commission investigating what happened on January 6, 2021, and was charged in a similar case in Georgia.
Who are the eleven fake voters who have been charged and named?
The Republicans who served as electors for Donald Trump in the 2020 election include powerful and influential GOP figures: a former chairman of the Republican Party of Arizona; a Republican national committee member and executive at Turning Point USA and its political arm; and two sitting senators — one of whom retains enormous political power in the Arizona Capitol.
Kelli Ward, Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, Jacob Hoffman, Anthony Kern, James Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Loraine Pellegrino, Gregory Safsten and Michael Ward were named in the indictment.
Reporters Mary Jo Pitzl and Ray Stern contributed to this article.
Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows among 7 charged in AZ but not yet named
