Arizona's attorney general says former New York Mayor has been served an indictment in the state's fake elector case alongside for his role in an attempt to overturn former President Donald Trump鈥檚 loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes posted the news regarding the Trump-aligned lawyer on her X account late Friday.
鈥淭he final defendant was served moments ago. nobody is above the law,鈥� Mayes wrote.
The attorney general鈥檚 spokesman Richie Taylor said in an email to The Associated Press on Saturday that Giuliani faces the same charges as the other defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.
Giuliani鈥檚 political adviser, Ted Goodman, confirmed Giuliani was served Friday night after his 80th birthday celebration as he was walking to the car.
鈥淲e look forward to full vindication soon,鈥� Goodman said in a statement Saturday.
The indictment alleges that Giuliani 鈥減ressured鈥� Arizona legislators and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to change the outcome of Arizona鈥檚 election and that he was responsible for encouraging Republican electors in Arizona and six other contested states to vote for Trump.
Taylor said an unredacted copy of the indictment will be released Monday. He said Giuliani is expected to appear in court Tuesday unless he is granted a delay by the court.
, Trump鈥檚 former chief of staff, is among others who have been indicted in the case.
Neither Meadows nor Giuliani were named in the redacted grand jury indictment released earlier because they had not been served with it, but they were readily identifiable based on descriptions in the document. The Arizona attorney general鈥檚 office said Wednesday that and confirmed that he was charged with the same counts as the other named defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.
With the indictments, Arizona becomes the fourth state where allies of the former president have been charged with using false or unproven claims about voter fraud related to the election.
Giuliani was also indicted last year by a , where he is accused of spearheading Trump鈥檚 efforts to compel state lawmakers in Georgia to ignore the will of voters and illegally appoint pro-Trump electoral college electors.
Among the 16 other defendants are 11 Arizona Republicans who submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring that Trump won in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election 鈥� including a former state GOP chair, a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate and two sitting state lawmakers. The other defendants are Mike Roman, who was Trump鈥檚 director of Election Day operations, and four attorneys accused of organizing an attempt to use fake documents to persuade Congress not to certify Biden鈥檚 victory: John Eastman, Christina Bobb, Boris Epshteyn and Jenna Ellis.
Trump himself was not charged but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator.
The 11 people who had been nominated to be Arizona鈥檚 Republican electors met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were 鈥渄uly elected and qualified鈥� electors and claiming that Trump carried the state. of the signing 小蓝视频 was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.
Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.
Eastman, who devised a strategy to try to persuade Congress not to certify the election, became the first person charged in Arizona鈥檚 fake elector case to be arraigned on Friday. He pleaded not guilty to .
Eastman made a brief statement outside the courthouse, saying the charges against him should have never been filed.
鈥淚 had zero communications with the electors in Arizona (and) zero involvement in any of the election litigation in Arizona or legislative hearings. And I am confident that with the laws faithfully applied, I will be fully be exonerated at the end of this process,鈥� Eastman said. He declined to make further comment.
Arraignments are scheduled May 21 for 12 other people charged in the case, including nine of the 11 Republicans who had submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring Trump had won Arizona.
The Arizona indictment said Eastman encouraged the GOP electors to cast their votes in December 2020, unsuccessfully pressured state lawmakers to change the election鈥檚 outcome in Arizona and told then-Vice President Mike Pence that he could reject Democratic electors in the counting of electoral votes in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
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Associated Press writers Jacques Billeaud and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix and Nomaan Merchant in Washington contributed to this report.
Scott Sonner, The Associated Press
