Several Trump aides are indicted in Arizona. They are accused of attempting to influence the election results.
A court in the US state of Arizona has brought charges against seven of the former US president’s lawyers and eleven Republican loyalists. A jury of jurors sees sufficient suspicion that the accused have committed a criminal offense for election fraud. They are said to have tried to subsequently prevent Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, US media report, citing a statement from the public prosecutor’s office.
According to a report by the Washington Post, the list of defendants also includes prominent names. It says Rudy Giuliani, former lawyer for Donald Trump and former New York mayor. His spokesman Ted Goodman confirmed the reports.
Mark Meadows, Trump’s then chief of staff, is also charged. Other defendants include former Trump lawyers Jenna Ellis and John Eastman. There are also Boris Epshteyn and Mike Roman, who played leading roles in Trump’s election campaign.
Some names were blacked out in the public prosecutor’s office because the relevant documents had not yet been served on the accused. The Washington Post was able to identify them because of their roles described in the indictment. There was talk of a former Trump chief of staff.
Ex-president described as unaccused accomplice
They are accused of attempting to award the state’s electoral votes to Trump rather than Biden after the 2020 election. Also indicted are members of some Republicans who are said to have signed documents on December 14, 2020 that falsely claimed that Trump was the rightful winner.
According to the Post, these include former party chairwoman Kelli Ward, Senators Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern as well as Tyler Bowyer, as well as other campaign aides. Trump himself is not on the list, but an “unindicted co-suspect” former US president is mentioned in the court documents. In the US state of Georgia, however, Trump is listed as a defendant for similar allegations.
The investigation dragged on for over a year, according to the American newspaper. Some of the defendants pointed out that they were only preparing for the eventuality that the Biden votes were declared invalid in court. However, the public prosecutor’s office is trying to prove that there was an intention to cast doubt on the election and prevent its recognition in Congress.
The lawyer Jenna Ellis had already pleaded guilty before the grand jury in Georgia in October and agreed to help the authorities in the investigation. Trump’s then-lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Ellis were in several states, including Arizona, in the weeks after the US election to spread their – demonstrably untrue – account of a fraudulent election. They are said to have tried with other Republicans to persuade the speaker of the state legislature to overturn the results.
Biden won the election in Arizona by more than 10,000 votes. There were initially no statements from the accused or their lawyers against the Washington Post.
