Rudolph W. Giuliani and 10 other allies of Donald J. Trump were arraigned Tuesday morning in an Arizona criminal case that accuses them of trying to keep Mr. Trump in power after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election .
In total, 50 people – including Mr. Trump, who blocked the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election – now face charges related to election interference in four states. A number of Trump allies have already pleaded guilty or entered into cooperation agreements in cases in Georgia and Michigan.
Mr. Giuliani, who received notice of charges Friday, appeared virtually at his arraignment, while most of the other defendants appeared in person Tuesday at a Phoenix courthouse. Other defendants include Christina Bobb, a 2020 Trump campaign adviser who is now the Republican National Committee’s election integrity adviser, and Kelli Ward, former head of the Arizona Republican Party.
All defendants in the Arizona case are charged with conspiracy, fraud and forgery, and all those brought to trial so far have pleaded not guilty. Others facing trial next month include Boris Epshteyn, one of Mr. Trump’s top lawyers, and Mark Meadows, a former White House chief of staff.
The first to go to trial in the case was John Eastman, a lawyer who helped hatch a plan to deploy fake voters for Mr. Trump in swing states he lost; Mr. Eastman was arraigned in Phoenix last week and pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Trump has not been charged in the Arizona case. He is listed as “unindicted co-conspirator 1” in the indictment.
Mr. Giuliani was the last of the Arizona defendants to receive a notice of charges, a necessary step before indictment. The office of Kris Mayes, Arizona’s attorney general, said Mr. Giuliani evaded efforts to serve him for several days. On Friday, Mr. Giuliani, a former mayor of New York, posted a photo of himself on X, captioned: “If Arizona authorities can’t find me by tomorrow morning: 1. They must reject the ‘indictment ; 2. They need to admit they can’t count votes.” The photo has since been deleted.
He received his notice that evening, after leaving an 80th birthday party.
“The last defendant was purged moments ago,” Ms. Mayes, a Democrat, wrote in a social media post Friday evening. “@RudyGiuliani, no one is above the law.”
Over the weekend, Mr. Giuliani wrote on Facebook that he had “no idea Arizona was looking for me” until “someone told me there was a news article saying that they had difficulty finding me.”
Writing that he had “agreed to serve as a gentleman with dignity,” he added: “I have done nothing wrong. »
Thomas F. Jacobs, Ms. Bobb’s lawyer, said the case had many flaws and would not succeed against any of the defendants. “You have to prove it to a Maricopa County jury, which will be made up of members of both parties,” he said, adding: “I logically cannot see it as anything other than a political move.”
Ms. Mayes secured the indictments of all 11 people who served as fake Trump electors in Arizona, as well as seven Trump advisers. Mr. Trump and several of those same advisers were among those charged in a similar case in Fulton County, Georgia. Attorneys general in Michigan and Nevada have brought charges focusing solely on people who registered to be fake voters in those areas. States.
None of the cases are expected to go to trial until November, ensuring that the legal battle over Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results will continue after the 2024 election.
Mr. Giuliani was directly involved in efforts to reverse Mr. Trump’s election defeat in Arizona. Rusty Bowers, a former speaker of the Arizona House, said Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Trump pressured him to get the state Legislature to review Arizona’s vote.
Mr. Bowers testified that Mr. Giuliani made numerous allegations of election fraud during a phone call on November 22, 2020, and promised to provide evidence of the alleged fraud, but never did so. “Aren’t we all Republicans here? Mr. Bowers recalled Mr. Giuliani’s words. “I think we’ll get a better reception.”
During a meeting on December 1, 2020, according to Mr. Bowers’ testimony, Mr. Giuliani was looking for ways to decertify the Arizona election results. Mr. Bowers said Mr. Giuliani told him at the meeting: “We don’t have evidence, but we have a lot of theories. »
“We all looked at each other and said, did he really say that? Mr. Bowers told members of Congress.
Mr. Bowers ultimately rebuffed efforts to interfere with Arizona’s election results.
Ms. Ward’s involvement began “almost immediately after the election,” according to the indictment, when she sent messages to Republicans on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and urged them to delay certification of results. She and her husband Michael, who also faces charges, both acted as bogus voters.
So far, the defendants in the various cases have generally not disputed the evidence showing the steps taken by Mr. Trump and his allies to cling to power despite his defeat. Instead, they claimed their actions were protected by the First Amendment or immunity, or they argued that they were simply considering the possibility that the Trump campaign would prevail in legal challenges to Trump’s victory. Mr. Biden.
Brad Miller, the lawyer for Ms. Ward and her husband Michael, also charged in the case, said after their arraignment that they had done nothing illegal by acting as pro-Trump voters.
“What they’re trying to do is exercise their constitutional right to peaceful protest, their constitutional right to redress of grievances from their own government,” Mr. Miller said outside the courthouse. “This should be celebrated. This should not be criminalized.
Rowan Moore Gerety contributed reporting.
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