Nine Arizona Republican state lawmakers and two Trump aides pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Maricopa County Court to criminal charges stemming from a plot to falsely certify President Donald Trump won the state in 2020 to keep him in the White House.
Stuart Green, a retiree who lives north of Sedona, said he drove two and a half hours to watch the hearing.
“I wanted to see the faces of the people who tried to end our democracy,” Greene said.
Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who for weeks evaded prosecutors and continued to defy them as they tried to serve him with a subpoena, has been ordered to post $10,000 bail and appear in Arizona within 30 days. So far, Giuliani is the only defendant ordered to post bail to ensure he will appear in court.
“Frankly, he has made a mockery of the Arizona justice system,” prosecutor Nick Klingerman said of Giuliani after the hearing.
A grand jury indicted 18 people in April for their role in a scheme to falsely claim that Arizona's Republican electors had won the state's popular vote. All are charged with nine felony counts, including conspiracy, forgery and fraud. If convicted, they could face prison time, but state law allows for lesser penalties, such as probation, depending on a defendant's circumstances, such as past criminal history.
In addition to Giuliani, former Trump campaign lawyer Christina Bobb and fake electors Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, Anthony Kahn, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino, Gregory Safsten, Kelly Ward and Michael Ward also pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
Most of the defendants declined to discuss the case outside court, but their lawyer, Brad Miller, said his clients, Ward and his wife, were part of a legitimate voter roll and had committed no crime. Miller said he plans to seek grand jury records.
“If there are issues with the grand jury record, there is an opportunity to remand it and subject it to a fair and impartial grand jury,” Miller said.
Miller also said prosecutors have not yet determined what criminal acts the men committed under state law.
“They haven't been charged with the allegations that the election was stolen,” Miller said, arguing that the government hasn't been specific enough about acts that amount to forgery or fraud. “We want to make sure that the facts of the allegations match up to the crimes.”
In response, Klingerman, the criminal division chief for the Arizona attorney general's office, said the charges were clearly stated in the indictment.
The attorney general's office released an unredacted version of the indictment on Monday, more than three weeks after an initial release that withheld the names of defendants who had not yet been served with the charges. The unredacted indictment was released after Giuliani became the final defendant in the indictment, who was served with the summons in Florida on Friday night after a party celebrating his soon-to-be 80th birthday.
The arraignment marks one of the initial steps in the criminal justice process in which defendants plead guilty to charges. Of the 11 people arraigned Tuesday morning, most appeared in person, but four appeared online or by phone. The judicial officer who arraigned the defendants will not serve as the judge in the voter fraud case; that appointment will be made at a later date.
On Friday, Trump's former lawyer, John Eastman, became the first defendant to be indicted. He has pleaded not guilty and said after the hearing that he plans to fight the charges in court.
The remaining defendants are scheduled to be arraigned in the coming weeks. A trial is scheduled for October, but the start date could change. Klingerman said the arraignment is the beginning of a long process and that the attorney general's office is still investigating the case. “We are taking this case seriously and professionally, and whatever timeline the court provides, we intend to follow it,” he said.
About two dozen people gathered outside the Phoenix courthouse before the arraignment to show their support for the defendant, chanting “he's a hero” and other chants as he passed by on his way into the building.
“We're here today on a very dark day for Arizona and our country,” said Melissa Hamilton, the group's leader.
Who are the fake electors and Trump aides indicted on Tuesday?
President Trump's National Security Advisor Christina Bobb: She was a lawyer for the Trump campaign who worked closely with Giuliani, according to the indictment, which said she encouraged Arizona Republican lawmakers to ignore the state's presidential results after the 2020 election and helped orchestrate the fraudulent electoral votes on Dec. 14, 2020. After her arraignment, she maintained that the charges against her were wrong.
Tyler Bowyer, False Elector: Bowyer, an executive at Turning Point USA and a member of the Republican National Committee, spoke to The Republic in 2022 about the fake electors plot, saying he didn't know “all the details and the facts” but acknowledged that he was an elector for the state Republican Party.
Nancy Cottle, False Elector: Chair of Arizona's Trump Electoral College. Cottle serves on the Arizona Republican Executive Committee and the Maricopa County Republican Committee. He received a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Rudy Giuliani, Advisor to President Trump: Former Trump lawyer and former New York City mayor. According to the indictment, after the 2020 election, Giuliani spread false information about election fraud in Arizona, pressured public officials to change the election results, held an event in downtown Phoenix and said Arizona election officials made no attempt to verify the accuracy of the election results. The indictment also allegedly urged Republican electors in Arizona and six other states to declare Trump the winner.
False Elector, Anthony Kahn: The Glendale state senator was outside the U.S. Capitol building as rioters breached the building on January 6, 2021. Khan, an ardent Trump supporter, has denied questions about the Electoral College lawsuit and said he doesn't need a lawyer (though he is currently hiring one for the lawsuit). In March, he called the investigation a “weaponization of the government” and an attempt to bankrupt him and keep him out of Congress. He is running in the Republican primary in the battleground 8th Congressional District.
Robert Montgomery, False Elector: A former chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee, he supported manual vote counting and pressured county leaders to ignore warnings about that error-prone process before the 2022 election.
False Elector, Samuel Moorehead: Former second vice-chair of the Gila County Republican Party, a high-ranking position but not the top.
Lorraine Pellegrino, False Elector: Pellegrino, Arizona's Trump electoral representative, has long played a leading role in Republican politics in the state. He was subpoenaed by the House Select Committee investigating the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. In January 2022, he said the electoral representatives had laid out a plan for what to do if the election results were overturned.
Gregory Safsten, False Elector: He is the former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party, a role he served in December 2020 when he served as an elector for Trump.
Kelli Ward, False Elector: Ward, a former chair of the Arizona Republican Party, organized the fake electoral signature drive on Dec. 14, 2020. She sat at the head of the table while the signature video was being filmed. He bragged about the moment on TwitterShe helped promote election conspiracy theories, assisted Trump aides in pressuring Arizona Republican leaders and filed multiple lawsuits seeking to overturn Trump's 2020 defeat, The Republic reported.
Michael Ward, False Elector: Ward, a prominent Republican activist who received a subpoena from the US Department of Justice in its investigation into Trump's election interference, is married to Kelli Ward.
The Republic's Stacey Burchenger contributed to this article.
Elena Santa Cruz, Miguel Torres and Jimmy Jenkins are The Republic's justice reporters.
