Hearing on dismissal of charges in Arizona election fraud case enters second day

PHOENIX (AP) — A hearing on whether to drop charges against Republicans accused of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona will drag into its second day Tuesday.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen, who is presiding over the case, is reviewing motions from at least a dozen defendants who were charged in April with forgery, fraud and conspiracy.

Overall, a Arizona grand jury indicted 18 Republicans. They include 11 people who filed a document falsely claiming former President Donald Trump won Arizona, two former Trump associates and five lawyers associated with the former president, including Rudy Giuliani.

Those seeking to have their lawsuits dismissed are citing an Arizona law that prohibits meritless lawsuits designed to silence critics. The law has long provided protection in civil cases but was changed by the Republican-led Legislature in 2022 to cover most people facing criminal charges.

The defendants, who are appearing in court in person and virtually this week, argue that Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes sought to use the indictment to silence them over their constitutionally protected statements about the 2020 election and their actions in response to the outcome of the presidential race. President Joe Biden won Arizona with 10,457 votes.

They claim that Mayes pushed for an investigation into fraudulent electors during the election campaign and showed bias against Trump and his supporters.

John Eastmanone of the defendants who developed a strategy to persuade Congress not to certify the election, said outside court on Monday that Cohen was grappling with difficult issues.

“I think he enjoys the opportunity to be at the forefront of making decisions about what this statue actually does, and we look forward to his decisions on that,” Eastman said.

Prosecutors say the defendants have no evidence to support their retaliation claims and that they crossed the line between protected speech and fraud. Mayes' office also said the grand jury that brought the indictment wanted to consider a fee Trump, but prosecutors urged her not to.

Ultimately, no charges were brought against Trump. In the indictment, he is described as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Although Giuliani was not a fraudulent elector in Arizona, the indictment alleges that he pressured Maricopa County officials and state lawmakers to change the outcome of Arizona's election, and that he encouraged Republican electors in the state to vote for Trump in mid-December 2020. The indictment alleges that Giuliani spread false claims of voter fraud in Arizona after the 2020 election and presided over a rally in downtown Phoenix where he claimed that officials made no effort to verify the accuracy of the presidential election results.

Mark Williams, Giuliani's lawyer, said Monday that charges against his client should be dropped because he has done nothing criminal. Williams said Giuliani has exercised his right to free speech and petition the government.

“How would Mr. Giuliani know that, oh my God, he was presiding over a meeting in downtown Phoenix,” Williams asked sarcastically. “How would he know that this is a crime?”

Dennis Wilenchik, an attorney for defendant James Lamon, who signed a statement claiming Trump had won in Arizona, argued that his client signed the document only as a contingency plan in case a lawsuit in Arizona ultimately turned the outcome of the presidential election in Trump's favor.

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

Prosecutor Nicholas Klingerman said the defendants' actions did not support their claim that they signed the document only out of caution.

One of the defendants, attorney Christina Bobb, worked with Giuliani to get Congress to recognize the false electors, while another defendant, Anthony Kern, said in a media interview that then-Vice President Mike Pence would decide which of the two electoral colleges the election should be from, Klingerman said.

“This doesn't sound like an emergency plan,” Klingerman said. “This sounds like a plan to create unrest and change the outcome of the election.”

So far, the cases of two defendants have been settled.

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

The remaining defendants have pleaded not guilty. Their trial is scheduled to begin on January 5, 2026.

Former Trump Presidential Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is tries to bring his charges before a federal courtwhere his lawyers say they will seek a dismissal of the charges.

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Associated Press writer Sejal Govindarao contributed to this story.