State Attorney General Kris Mayes, an Arizona Democrat, officially announced on Friday the (already reported) new criminal charges against five additional Trump allies/Trump-connected individuals in the context of an investigation in the state into the assembling of sham electoral votes that backed Trump after the last presidential election.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden won Arizona that year, but the southwestern state was among those where Trump allies put together slates of purported electoral votes that backed Trump and flouted the actual results.
The key factor in releasing the names of defendants in Arizona’s case appears to be actually serving those named in the grand jury-approved charges with their indictment.
Those newly announced as under indictment include John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn, Christina Bobb, Jenna Ellis, and Michael Roman, all of whom were already known as tied to Trump — and a portion of whom already faced criminal allegations elsewhere in connection to similar issues. Attorneys Eastman and Ellis alongside ex-campaign aide Roman were originally charged alongside Trump in the infamous Georgia case from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis dealing with allegations of trying to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, amid which Biden was also victorious — by a narrow margin — in Georgia.
Ellis already struck a deal with Georgia prosecutors, pleading guilty… while Eastman has been facing serious disciplinary proceedings in California related to his post-2020 election roles that have presented the possibility of his disbarment. Another of those reportedly charged in Arizona is Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, who has also faced disciplinary proceedings tied to 2020 election disputes.
Notably, state authorities in Arizona are calling their investigation “ongoing.” “Attorney General Kris Mayes today announced the names of additional defendants who were indicted earlier this week by the State Grand Jury in the ongoing investigation into the fake elector scheme in Arizona,” said a Friday press release from authorities.
