Arizona grand jury indicts Republicans over effort to overturn 2020 election, including Giuliani, Meadows, and Jenna Ellis

An Arizona grand jury indicted a group of Republican figures over the effort to overturn the 2020 election, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

“Arizona’s election was free and fair. The people of Arizona elected President Biden,” said Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, on Wednesday in a video from Phoenix.

“Unwilling to accept this fact, the defendants charged by the state grand jury allegedly schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency,” she continued. “Whatever their reasoning was, the plot to violate the law must be answered for, and I was elected to uphold the law of this state.”

Eighteen Republicans were indicted, but officials initially released only 11 names because the rest were not yet notified. The Associated Press and other outlets identified some of the other defendants based on their descriptions.

Eleven of the Republican figures met a month after the election at the Republican headquarters in Phoenix and signed a certificate claiming to be the electors in order to re-install former President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

“The scheme, had it succeeded, would have deprived Arizona’s voters of their right to have their votes counted for their chosen president,” Mayes continued. “It effectively would have made their right to vote meaningless.

Others indicted in Arizona included Boris Epshteyn, a former White House aide, and Kelli Ward, the former chair of the Arizona Republican Party. Trump is listed as an un-indicted co-conspirator.

The charges include felony counts of conspiracy, fraud, and forgery.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung released a brief statement criticizing the indictments.

“Another example of Democrats’ weaponization of the legal system. Christina Bobb is a former Marine Corps officer, who served our nation and the President with distinction. The Democrat platform for 2024: if you can’t beat them, try to throw them in jail,” Cheung said.

Special counsel Jack Smith has charged the former president with alleged crimes related to the effort to overturn the election while Republicans have been charged by several states, including Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada.

“I will not allow American democracy to be undermined,” said Mayes in the video Wednesday. “It’s too important.”