Mark Meadows, formerly the chief of staff at the White House as Donald Trump’s presidency drew to a close in 2021, was confirmed by authorities in Arizona as another defendant in their criminal case that hinges on the sham electors scheme in the state that followed the 2020 presidential election. Though Joe Biden won Arizona, Trump allies assembled a slate of purported electoral votes for the state that backed the then-outgoing president.
Meadows is facing nine charges. He “faces the same conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges as the other named defendants in Arizona’s fake elector case, the state attorney general’s office said Wednesday,” reported the Associated Press. That list ranges from Trump ally and embattled legal figure John Eastman to actual Arizona individuals who added their names as purported electoral college members from Arizona.
Also reportedly charged was Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, which would mark the second criminal case for the former mayor over his post-2020 election roles, though authorities weren’t initially confirming his inclusion in the case.
The lingering issue appeared to be actually serving Giuliani with a copy of his indictment.
Eastman and Meadows — alongside others — were also charged in the still active Georgia criminal case dealing with some of the Trump corner’s post-2020 election targeting of its outcome, meaning Joe Biden’s electoral college win.
The U.S. Supreme Court just recently heard arguments on claims from Trump himself that he holds wide-ranging legal protections by mere virtue of once serving as president that supposedly should stop a roughly similar federal case, and in theory, some of the possibilities of a favorable outcome for Trump in the dispute could have ripple effects at least around his inclusion in the Georgia case. That case continues despite efforts by some to push lead prosecutor Fani Willis from the proceedings on allegations of corruption.
