PHOENIX –
Eleven Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring that Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election were charged Wednesday with conspiracy, fraud and forgery, becoming the fourth state to file charges against “false electors.” ”.
Those charged include the former chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate and two sitting state legislators. The grand jury indictment also describes an unindicted accomplice who is clearly Trump.
The 11 people who had been nominated to be Arizona Republican electors gathered in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly chosen and qualified” electors and affirming that Trump won the state. At the time, the Arizona Republican Party posted a one-minute video of the signing ceremony on social media. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.
Seven others were charged, but their names were redacted from records released by Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes. His office said the names will be released after those people are charged.
“I will not allow American democracy to be undermined,” Mayes said in a video released by his office. “It’s too important.”
Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes. Of the eight lawsuits that unsuccessfully challenged Biden’s victory in the state, one was filed by the 11 Republicans who would later sign the certificate declaring Trump the winner.
Their lawsuit asked a judge to decertify the results that gave Biden his victory in Arizona and block the state from sending them to the Electoral College. In dismissing the case, U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa said the Republicans lacked legal standing, waited too long to present their case and “failed to provide the court with factual support for their extraordinary claims.”
Days after that lawsuit was dismissed, the 11 Republicans participated in the signing of the minutes.
The Arizona charges come after a series of allegations against false voters in other states.
In December, a Nevada grand jury indicted six Republicans on felony counts of offering a false instrument to present and issuing a forged instrument in connection with false election certificates. They have pleaded not guilty.
In July, the Michigan Attorney General filed felony charges including forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery against 16 false Republican electors. One had charges dropped after reaching a cooperation agreement, and the remaining 15 defendants pleaded not guilty.
Three fake electors have also been charged in Georgia along with Trump and others in a sweeping indictment accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally overturn the results. They have pleaded not guilty.
In Wisconsin, 10 Republicans posing as electors settled a civil lawsuit, admitting their actions were part of an effort to overturn Biden’s victory. There are no known criminal investigations in Wisconsin.
Trump was also indicted in federal court in August over the fake elector scheme. The indictment alleges that when Trump failed to persuade state officials to illegally change the election, he and his Republican allies began recruiting a list of fake electors in battleground states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin) to sign certificates falsely claiming that he, and not Biden, had won their states.
In early January, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez said the state’s five Republican electors cannot be prosecuted under current law. In New Mexico and Pennsylvania, fake electors added a warning saying that the electoral certificate would be presented in case they were later recognized as qualified and duly elected electors. No charges have been filed in Pennsylvania.
In Arizona, Mayes’ predecessor, Republican Mark Brnovich, conducted an investigation into the 2020 election, but allegations of fake voters were not part of that examination, according to Mayes’ office.
In another election-related case brought by Mayes’ office, two Republican officials in a rural Arizona county who delayed the submission of 2022 general election results face felony charges. A grand jury indicted Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby in November on one count each of conspiracy and interference with an election official. Both pleaded not guilty.
The Republicans facing charges are Kelli Ward, chairwoman of the state Republican Party from 2019 to early 2023; State Senator Jake Hoffman; Tyler Bowyer, executive of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA that is part of the Republican National Committee; State Senator Anthony Kern, who was photographed in restricted areas outside the US Capitol during the January 6 attack and is now a candidate in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District; Greg Safsten, former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party; energy industry executive James Lamon, who lost the 2022 Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat; Robert Montgomery, 2020 Cochise County Republican Committee Chairman; Samuel Moorhead, Republican precinct committeeman in Gila County; Nancy Cottle, who in 2020 was the first vice president of the Arizona Federation of Republican Women; Loraine Pellegrino, president of Ahwatukee Republican Women; and Michael Ward, an osteopathic doctor married to Kelli Ward.
None of the 11 responded to phone, email or social media messages from The Associated Press on Wednesday seeking comment.
Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.