Hearing over whether to dismiss charges in Arizona fake electors case stretches into second day

PHOENIX (AP) — A hearing on whether to dismiss charges against Republicans accused of scheming to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential race in Arizona will stretch into a second day Tuesday.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen, who is presiding over the case, is considering requests from at least a dozen defendants who were indicted in April on charges of forgery, fraud and conspiracy.

In all, an Arizona grand jury indicted 18 Republicans. They include 11 people who submitted a document falsely claiming former President Donald Trump won Arizona, two former Trump aides and five lawyers connected to the former president, including Rudy Giuliani.

Those seeking to dismiss their cases have cited an Arizona law that bars using baseless legal actions in a bid to silence critics. The law had long offered protections in civil cases but was amended in 2022 by the Republican-led Legislature to cover people facing most criminal charges.

The defendants appearing in person and virtually in court this week argue Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes tried to use the charges to silence them for their constitutionally protected speech about the 2020 election and actions taken in response to the outcome of the presidential race. President Joe Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes.

They say Mayes campaigned on investigating fake electors and had shown a bias toward Trump and his supporters.

John Eastman, one of the defendants who devised a strategy to try to persuade Congress not to certify the election, said outside of court Monday that Cohen is grappling with difficult issues.

“I think he’s relishing the opportunity to be on the front line in deciding what this statue actually accomplished, and we look forward to his rulings on it,” Eastman said.

Prosecutors say the defendants don’t have evidence to back up their retaliation claim and they crossed the line from protected speech to fraud. Mayes’ office also has said the grand jury that brought the indictment wanted to consider charging Trump but prosecutors urged them not to.

Trump ultimately wasn’t charged. The indictment refers to him as an unindicted coconspirator.

While not a fake elector in Arizona, the indictment alleged Giuliani pressured Maricopa County officials and state legislators to change the outcome of Arizona’s results and encouraged Republican electors in the state to vote for Trump in mid-December 2020. The indictment said Giuliani spread false claims of election fraud in Arizona after the 2020 election and presided over a downtown Phoenix gathering where he claimed officials made no effort to determine the accuracy of presidential election results.

Mark Williams, Giuliani’s attorney, said Monday that the charges against his client should be thrown out because he did nothing criminal. Williams said Giuliani was exercising his rights to free speech and to petition the government.

“How is Mr. Giuliani to know that, oh my gosh, he presided over a meeting in downtown Phoenix,” Williams asked sarcastically. “How is he to know that that’s a crime?”

Dennis Wilenchik, an attorney for defendant James Lamon, who had signed a statement claiming Trump had won Arizona, argued his client signed the document only as a contingency in case a lawsuit would eventually turn the outcome of the presidential race in Trump’s favor in Arizona.

“My client, Jim Lamon, never did anything to overthrow the government,” Wilenchik said.

Prosecutor Nicholas Klingerman said the defendants’ actions don’t back up their claims that they signed the document as a contingency.

One defendant, attorney Christina Bobb, was working with Giuliani to get Congress to accept the fake electors, while another defendant, Anthony Kern, gave a media interview in which he said then-Vice President Mike Pence would decide which of the two slates of electors to choose from, Klingerman said.

“That doesn’t sound like a contingency,” Klingerman said. “That sounds like a plan to cause turmoil to change the outcome of the election.”

So far, two defendants have resolved their cases.

Former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis, who worked closely with Giuliani, signed a cooperation agreement with prosecutors that led to the dismissal of her charges. Republican activist Loraine Pellegrino also became the first person to be convicted in the Arizona case when she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and was sentenced to probation.

The remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Their trial is scheduled to start Jan. 5, 2026.

Former Trump presidential chief of staff Mark Meadows is trying to move his charges to federal court, where his lawyers say they will seek a dismissal of the charges.

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Associated Press writer Sejal Govindarao contributed to this story.