In Arizona, 11 Republicans are facing criminal charges for the first time after signing a document falsely saying Donald Trump won the state in 2020.
A state grand jury released an indictment Wednesday charging each elector with nine criminal charges, including conspiracy, fraudulent schemes and practices, six counts of forgery.
The indictment lists the names of 11 Republican electors and redacts the names of seven other defendants. The individuals have not yet been indicted, but details in the indictment reveal that they include top Trump aides, including Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows.
Democrat Joe Biden won Arizona’s votes in the Electoral College, but these are 11 Arizonans who signed a document claiming they are Trump’s legitimate electors. The above counts will be charged for each.
Dig deeper: Learn more about fake electors in Arizona
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tyler bowyer
Mr. Bowyer is chief operating officer of Turning Point USA, a Phoenix-based nonprofit with a similarly named political advocacy arm. The nonprofit started by advocating conservative politics in high schools and colleges, but the nonprofit and its affiliates have grown to become influential in the conservative culture wars. They have also been controversial for spreading false information, including about elections.
Mr. Bowyer is a member of the Republican National Committee. He told The Arizona Republic in 2022 that he didn’t know “all the details and facts” about the so-called election fraud conspiracy, but acknowledged he was a state Republican elector.
Nancy Cottle
Mr. Cottle served as chairman of the Arizona Trump electors.
Cottle also received a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Mr. Cottle served on the Arizona Republican Party Executive Committee and the Maricopa County Republican Committee. She led the Pledge of Allegiance at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Florence, Arizona in January 2022.
jake hoffman
Hoffman, a Queen Creek native, is a state senator who was first elected to the state House in 2020. He is the founder of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, a political coalition that includes the state’s most conservative legislators. Many of these members are aligned with Mr. Trump, and the group generally supports conservative policies on social issues.
Mr. Hoffman is Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’s biggest opponent and is used to criticizing Republicans who he thinks are too moderate.
He announced earlier this year that he was running for Arizona’s representative on the Republican National Committee, and is seeking reelection to represent Arizona’s 15th Legislative District, which includes Queen Creek, Santan Valley and parts of Mesa. He runs or owns several marketing and advertising businesses, including one that was exposed several years ago as a social media “troll farm” spreading disinformation.
He has largely avoided reporters’ questions about the electorate, saying he wants to provide “confronting views” to Congress and Vice President Mike Pence in 2022, and earlier this year accused Attorney General Chris Mays of “corruption.” He claimed that he was using the attorney general for “misconduct.” persecute political opponents. ”
For more information about the indictment, please see below.Grand jury indicts fake electors who falsely certified Donald Trump as 2020 winner
anthony kern
Khan, a state senator from Glendale who was outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when it was invaded by a mob, is an ardent Trump supporter. He was first elected to the Arizona State Assembly in 2015 and is currently running for Congress in a crowded Republican primary.
He was fired 10 years ago for lying to supervisors at the El Mirage Police Department in northwestern Phoenix after a series of disciplinary problems, and a police officer accused of fraud known as the Brady List. It was put on the list.
Khan brushed off questions about the electoral lawsuit, saying he didn’t need a lawyer. Last month, in the plaza outside the Maricopa County Courthouse, Mr. Khan denounced the investigation as a “weaponization of government” and said the motive was an attempt to bankrupt him and distance him from Congress.
Jim Ramon
Ramon ran for the Arizona Senate in 2022, but lost in the Republican primary.
He is the founder of Scottsdale-based Depcom Power. Depcom Power is a solar power engineering and construction company that employed 1,600 people across the United States before selling the business. Ramon has been a steady financial supporter of Republican causes and candidates, and helped fund the Arizona Senate’s much-criticized review of the 2020 voting results.
In 2022, Ramon claimed in an interview with Phoenix’s KTVK-TV that electors were on board with a backup plan in case Trump’s claims of election fraud were successful.
“Republican electors have submitted valid documentation that there is no excuse not to certify electors if the election certification is overturned,” Ramon said.
However, the document itself contained no such conditional language.
robert montgomery
Mr. Montgomery is a former chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee. Mr. Montgomery led Republican leadership in rural southeastern Arizona until his loss to an unexpected challenger in December 2022. Montgomery has supported counting ballots by hand and has urged county leaders to ignore warnings about doing so before the 2022 election.
samuel moorhead
Moorhead was second vice chair of the Gila County Republican Party when he signed on as a Trump elector, although he is among the top-ranking Republicans in one of Arizona’s suburban counties northeast of metro Phoenix. , was not the top.
After 17 years on the board of the Gila County Interim Community College District, Moorhead resigned in October to move elsewhere in Arizona to be closer to his daughter and grandson, according to minutes.
Lorraine Pellegrino
Mr. Pellegrino served as Trump Arizona electoral secretary and has a long history of leadership in state Republican politics. She leads two conservative organizations, the Arizona Republican Women’s Federation and the Ahwatukee Republican Women’s Club, and served as a delegate to the Republican National Committee convention in 2012, 2016, and 2020.
Pellegrino was subpoenaed by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. She said voters presented a contingency plan in January 2022.
“We were President Trump’s electors and we expected things to change,” she said. “I signed the papers just in case something gets overturned.”
Greg Safsten
Safsten, who has served as an advisor to several Republican politicians from Arizona, was executive director of the Arizona Republican Party when he signed on as a Trump elector.
According to Resistome’s online biography, Mr. Safsten worked for then-Rep. Matt Salmon in 2012 as a field director and then took on the role of legislative aide. Four years later, he worked on Republican Congressman Andy Biggs’ campaign, eventually becoming his chief of staff.
kelly ward
Kerry Ward is the former chair of the Arizona Republican Party. She helped organize fake electoral signatures and sat at the head of the table during the “Signature” video. I bragged about that moment on Twitter.The Arizona Republic previously reported.
Ward was also subpoenaed by the commission on Jan. 6 in connection with the Electoral College, and subsequently waived his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself when testifying before the commission. Exercised the right more than 200 times.
She has been an outspoken supporter of Trump, supporting efforts by Trump aides to pressure Republican leaders in Arizona and filing multiple lawsuits in 2020 to overturn Trump’s election defeat. He is also the instigator of the conspiracy. She is a former state representative who ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives twice. She is in the US Senate.
michael ward
Michael Ward, a prominent Republican activist, has been subpoenaed by the Justice Department in an investigation into Trump’s election interference. He has been married to Kerry Ward since 1995 and served as her campaign manager for her bid for the Arizona State Legislature.
Arizona Republic reporters Ryan Randazzo, Richard Ruelas and Robert Anlen contributed to this article.
Contact reporter Stacy Birchanger. stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669.
