PHOENIX (AP) — Lawyers Boris Epshteyn and Jenna Ellis and former U.S. Senate candidate James Lamon have pleaded not guilty to nine charges of attempting to overthrow the former president Donald Trump‘s Arizona election loss for Joe Biden.
The hearing Tuesday in a Phoenix courtroom marked the last of 18 charges in the fake voter case. Fifteen other people, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Epshteyn, a Trump adviser, is accused of assisting Giuliani in carrying out the scheme to nominate false electors for Trump in Arizona and obstructing Congress’ certification of the election results on January 6, 2021.
Prosecutors in Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin have also filed criminal charges in connection with the false election campaign.
Arizona authorities announced the misdemeanor charges in late April. In total, charges were filed against 11 Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely stating that Trump had won Arizona, five lawyers associated with the former president and two former Trump aides. Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.
Trump himself was not charged in the Arizona case, but was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment.
Arizona authorities say Ellis made false claims about widespread election fraud in the state and six others, that he encouraged the Arizona Legislature to change the outcome of the election and that he encouraged then-Vice President Mike Pence to accept Arizona’s fake voter votes.
Lamon, a businessman who lost a 2022 Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona, is accused of falsely claiming he was a duly elected and qualified voter. Prosecutors have pointed out that Lamon did not withdraw his vote even though no legal challenge had successfully changed the outcome in Arizona. Last year, Ellis was indicted in Georgia after appearing with Giuliani at a December 2020 hearing hosted by Republican state lawmakers at the Georgia Capitol where false allegations of election fraud were made. She pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings after reaching a deal with prosecutors. All three defendants who pleaded not guilty on Tuesday participated in the hearing via video conference or telephone. The Associated Press left telephone messages seeking additional comment from their attorneys. Their trials are scheduled for November 14.
The 11 people claiming to be Arizona’s Republican electors 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.
