Former president Donald Trump is named as an unindicted co-conspirator in Arizona false election scheme charges issued Wednesday against 18 Republicans and former Trump aides.
The defendants are charged with crimes including conspiracy and forgery to falsely claiming they were presidential electors and that Trump won the state in the 2020 election. Trump was identified as “unindicted co-conspirator #1” in the indictment.
Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman are among the top Trump aides indicted. Other high-profile defendants include Republican Sen. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern, former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward.
The costs represent the fees at the fourth level of state against fake voters who attempted to change their election results by meeting and signing documents to keep Trump in power. The other states are Michigan, Nevada and Georgia.
Trump, Meadows and Giuliani are each charged with 12 co-defendants The Georgia election racketeering affair, which is based on the parallel plot in this state. Trump, Meadows and Giuliani have pleaded not guilty, but four other co-defendants have pleaded not guilty. pleaded guilty.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, accused the slate of fake electors of participating in a conspiracy to “prevent the lawful transfer of the Presidency of the United States, to keep President Donald J. Trump in office against the wishes of Arizona voters, and denying Arizona voters their right to vote and have their votes counted.
President Joe Biden Biden carried Arizona in November 2020 by a margin of 10,457 votes with nearly 3.4 million votes cast. It was Biden’s smallest margin of victory in any state, and only the second time in 70 years that a Democrat had won the state.
Trump spent months baselessly alleging widespread voter fraud, claims that state and federal Republican officials investigated and dismissed. Trump and his collaborators sparked a pressure campaign on GOP leaders in Arizona and other states.
This article was originally published on USA TODAY: Donald Trump named unindicted co-conspirator in Arizona election case
