Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes plans to pursue a new indictment against Trump allies after the state Supreme Court declined to reinstate her earlier 2020 election case.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is preparing to take a 2020 election-related case back to a grand jury after the Arizona Supreme Court refused to revive her earlier indictment against several allies of President Donald Trump.
Mayes’ office said Thursday that prosecutors will again seek charges in the matter, Politico reported. The office did not provide additional comment.
The decision follows a legal defeat for Mayes, a Democrat, after a judge found a defect in the way prosecutors presented the case to the original grand jury. The dispute centered on whether grand jurors were given the precise statutory language tied to the alleged offense the defendants were accused of attempting to violate.
A lower court ruled that prosecutors had failed to provide that language. On Tuesday, the Arizona Supreme Court declined to overturn the ruling, leaving Mayes to decide whether to abandon the case or seek a new indictment.
The original case named several figures connected to Trump, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, attorney John Eastman and Republican activists who served as alternate electors in Arizona following the 2020 election.
Trump was not charged in the Arizona case, though prosecutors identified him as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Mayes’ prosecution focused on allegations that Trump allies used an alternate-elector effort to challenge Arizona’s 2020 election outcome. Prosecutors alleged the effort involved fraud and forgery connected to documents submitted to Congress.
The Arizona case is one of several Democrat-led criminal prosecutions connected to efforts to contest the 2020 election results.
In Georgia, the election case that included charges against Trump was disrupted after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified from leading the prosecution.
A federal case brought by former special counsel Jack Smith against Trump was dismissed after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
In Michigan, a judge dismissed charges against alternate electors after finding they were not the principal actors behind the alleged scheme.
Other cases involving alternate electors remain pending in Nevada and Wisconsin.
Mayes’ decision to return to a grand jury keeps the Arizona matter active despite the setback from the state’s high court. Any new indictment would require prosecutors to present the case again while addressing the legal defect that derailed the earlier version.
Original article
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