Hearing over whether to dismiss charges in Arizona fake electors case stretches into second day
PHOENIX — A hearing on whether to drop charges against Republicans accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona continues for a second day Tuesday.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen, who is presiding over the case, is considering motions from at least a dozen defendants who were indicted in April on charges of forgery, fraud and conspiracy.
All in all a Arizona grand jury indicts 18 Republicans. They include 11 people who filed a document falsely claiming former President Donald Trump won Arizona, two former Trump associates and five lawyers with ties to the former president, including Rudy Giuliani.
Those seeking to have their cases dismissed have cited an Arizona law that bans the use of baseless legal action in an attempt to silence critics. The law has long provided protections in civil cases, but was changed by the Republican-led Legislature in 2022 to cover people facing most criminal charges.
The defendants, who are appearing in court in person and virtually this week, allege that Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes sought to use the charges to silence them over their constitutionally protected speech about the 2020 election and actions they took in response to the results of the presidential race. President Joe Biden won Arizona with 10,457 votes.
They say Mayes campaigned on the basis of researching fraudulent voters and favored Trump and his supporters.
John Oostmanone of the defendants who devised a strategy to convince Congress not to certify the election, said outside court Monday that Cohen is grappling with difficult issues.
“I think he relishes the opportunity to be on the front lines of determining what this statue actually accomplishes, and we look forward to his judgment on that,” Eastman said.
Prosecutors say the defendants have no evidence to support their claim of retaliation and that they have crossed the line from protected speech to fraud. Mayes’ office has also said that the grand jury that brought the indictment wanted to consider charging Trump, but prosecutors urged them not to.
Trump was ultimately not charged. The indictment refers to him as an unindicted accomplice.
While he was not a bogus voter in Arizona, the indictment alleged that Giuliani pressured officials and state lawmakers in Maricopa County to change the results of the election in Arizona and encouraged Republican electors in the state to vote for Trump in mid-December 2020. The indictment alleged that after the 2020 election, Giuliani spread false claims about election fraud in Arizona and chaired a rally in downtown Phoenix where officials he said made no effort to determine the accuracy of the presidential election results.
Mark Williams, Giuliani’s attorney, said Monday that the charges against his client should be dismissed because he has done nothing criminal. Williams said Giuliani was exercising his right to free speech and to petition the government.
“How can Mr. Giuliani know that, oh my God, he chaired a meeting in downtown Phoenix,” Williams asked sarcastically. “How can he know that’s a crime?”
Dennis Wilenchik, attorney for defendant James Lamon, who signed a declaration claiming Trump won Arizona, argued that his client signed the document only as a precaution in case a lawsuit ultimately swings the Arizona presidential election in Trump’s favor.
“My client, Jim Lamon, has never done anything to overthrow the government,” Wilenchik said.
According to prosecutor Nicholas Klingerman, the defendants’ actions do not support their claims that they signed the document as an emergency measure.
One of the defendants, attorney Christina Bobb, worked with Giuliani to get Congress to accept the fake electors, while another defendant, Anthony Kern, said in an interview with the media that then-Vice President Mike Pence would decide which of the two slates of electors would be chosen, Klingerman said.
“That doesn’t sound like a contingency plan,” Klingerman said. “That sounds like a plan to create unrest to change the outcome of the election.”
So far, two suspects have had their cases heard.
Former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis, who worked closely with Giuliani, signed a cooperation agreement with prosecutors leading to the dropping of her charges. Republican activist Loraine Pellegrino was also the first person to be convicted in the Arizona case, where she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to probation.
The remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Their trial is scheduled to begin on January 5, 2026.
Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is is trying to file his charges in federal courtwhere his lawyers say they will seek to have the charges dropped.
___
Associated Press editor Sejal Govindarao contributed to this story.