Arizona grand jury indicts 11 Republicans who falsely declared Trump won the state in 2020

BY JACQUES BILLEAUD AND JOSH KELETY
Updated 7:23 PM EDT, April 24, 2024

PHOENIX (AP) — Eleven Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring that Donald Trump beat Joe Biden in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election were charged Wednesday with conspiracy, fraud and forgery, marking the fourth state to bring charges against “fake electors.”

The eleven 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 claimed Trump had carried the state. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.

Seven others were indicted, but their names were blacked out of records released by Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes.

Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes. Of the eight lawsuits that unsuccessfully challenged his victory in the state, one was filed by the 11 Republicans who would later sign the certificate declaring Trump as the winner. Days after that lawsuit was dismissed, they participated in the certificate signing.

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