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Giuliani Final Defendant Served in AZ 05/20 06:14
(AP) -- Arizona's attorney general says former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani
has been served an indictment in the state's fake elector case alongside 17
other defendants for his role in an attempt to overturn former President Donald
Trump's loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes posted the news regarding the
Trump-aligned lawyer on her X account late Friday.
"The final defendant was served moments ago. @RudyGiuliani nobody is above
the law," Mayes wrote.
The attorney general's spokesman Richie Taylor said in an email to The
Associated Press on Saturday that Giuliani faces the same charges as the other
defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.
Giuliani's political adviser, Ted Goodman, confirmed Giuliani was served
Friday night after his 80th birthday celebration as he was walking to the car.
"We look forward to full vindication soon," Goodman said in a statement
Saturday.
The indictment alleges that Giuliani "pressured" Arizona legislators and the
Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to change the outcome of Arizona's
election and that he was responsible for encouraging Republican electors in
Arizona and six other contested states to vote for Trump.
Taylor said an unredacted copy of the indictment will be released Monday. He
said Giuliani is expected to appear in court Tuesday unless he is granted a
delay by the court.
Mark Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, is among others who have been
indicted in the case.
Neither Meadows nor Giuliani were named in the redacted grand jury
indictment released earlier because they had not been served with it, but they
were readily identifiable based on descriptions in the document. The Arizona
attorney general's office said Wednesday, May 1, that Meadows had been served
and confirmed that he was charged with the same counts as the other named
defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.
With the indictments, Arizona becomes the fourth state where allies of the
former president have been charged with using false or unproven claims about
voter fraud related to the election.
Giuliani faces other legal proceedings, and a bankruptcy judge this past
week said he was "disturbed" about the status of the case and for missed
deadlines to file financial disclosure reports. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy
after being ordered to pay $148 million to two former election workers for
spreading a false conspiracy theory about their role in the 2020 election.
Giuliani was also indicted last year by a grand jury in Georgia, where he is
accused of spearheading Trump's efforts to compel state lawmakers in Georgia to
ignore the will of voters and illegally appoint pro-Trump electoral college
electors.
Among the defendants are 11 Arizona Republicans who submitted a document to
Congress falsely declaring that Trump won in Arizona in the 2020 presidential
election -- including a former state GOP chair, a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate
and two sitting state lawmakers. The other defendants are Mike Roman, who was
Trump's director of Election Day operations, and four attorneys accused of
organizing an attempt to use fake documents to persuade Congress not to certify
Biden's victory: John Eastman, Christina Bobb, Boris Epshteyn and Jenna Ellis.
Trump himself was not charged but was referred to as an unindicted
co-conspirator.
The 11 people who had been nominated to be Arizona's Republican electors met
in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were "duly
elected and qualified" electors and claiming that Trump carried the state. A
one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the
Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress
and the National Archives, where it was ignored.
Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.
Eastman, who devised a strategy to try to persuade Congress not to certify
the election, became the first person charged in Arizona's fake elector case to
be arraigned on Friday. He pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, fraud and forgery
charges.
Eastman made a brief statement outside the courthouse, saying the charges
against him should have never been filed.
"I had zero communications with the electors in Arizona (and) zero
involvement in any of the election litigation in Arizona or legislative
hearings. And I am confident that with the laws faithfully applied, I will be
fully be exonerated at the end of this process," Eastman said. He declined to
make further comment.
Arraignments are scheduled May 21 for 12 other people charged in the case,
including nine of the 11 Republicans who had submitted a document to Congress
falsely declaring Trump had won Arizona.
The Arizona indictment said Eastman encouraged the GOP electors to cast
their votes in December 2020, unsuccessfully pressured state lawmakers to
change the election's outcome in Arizona and told then-Vice President Mike
Pence that he could reject Democratic electors in the counting of electoral
votes in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
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