Arizona's prosecution of 'fake electors' hits snag as DOJ fails to share Trump case files

Caitlin Sievers, Arizona Mirror
25 January
Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward speaking at a MAGA in Phoenix in February 2020

The U.S. Department of Justice didn’t give Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes its investigation on President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election before Trump took the office a second time Jan. 20.

Mayes had twice requested that the DOJ share with her the case file from special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, with the last request made just one week before Trump was sworn in to a second term. Mayes spokesman Richie Taylor told the Arizona Mirror on Friday that the DOJ had not supplied the Attorney General’s Office with its investigation file.

In the letter sent Jan. 12, Mayes wrote that the contents of the DOJ’s investigation will “undoubtedly” assist in her office’s prosecution of the 18 people indicted by a grand jury in Arizona’s “fake elector” scheme.

The DOJ withdrew its election interference case against Trump for his alleged role in orchestrating attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election after he won the presidential election in November.

In April, an Arizona grand jury indicted 18 people for their involvement in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election after Democrat Joe Biden won the state by around 10,000 votes.

Mayes had previously asked the DOJ to share its documents in the election interference case against Trump, but Smith said at that point he wasn’t ready or able to do so.

Mayes wrote in her January letter that she made the second request after the DOJ dismissed its case against Trump and the department was publicly preparing to release Smith’s report. Smith resigned shortly after he submitted the report, ahead of Trump’s inauguration.

All 11 of Arizona’s fake electors, who signed false documents claiming that Trump won the 2020 election at the alleged direction of the Trump campaign, were indicted. Some Trump campaign members and White House staffers were also indicted.

“Today, my office has one of the only remaining cases that include charges against national actors,” Mayes wrote in the letter. “I have held steadfast to prosecuting the grand jury’s indictment because those who tried to subvert democracy in 2020 must be held accountable.”

She went on to write that Smith’s file would help hold those involved accountable, as well as possibly exonerate them.

“To be sure that my office has all incriminating and exculpatory evidence possessed by (the) Special Counsel, I am requesting you disclose to my office (Smith’s) entire file, including the final report in the Election Case,” Mayes wrote.

When the Mirror asked Taylor how the AG’s failure to obtain whatever information the DOJ uncovered might impact the fake electors case, he referred the Mirror back to Mayes’ letter requesting the file.

The 11 fake electors indicted in the Arizona case are:

  • Kelli Ward, former AZGOP chairman
  • Arizona Sen. Jake Hoffman, leader of the Arizona Freedom Caucus
  • Arizona Sen. Anthony Kern, member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus
  • Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point USA CEO
  • Michael Ward, husband of Kelli Ward
  • Nancy Cottle, a Republican who’s been active in local politics for a decade
  • James Lamon, a failed 2022 U.S. Senate candidate
  • Robert Montgomery, former chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee
  • Samuel Moorhead, former chairman of Gila County Republican Party
  • Lorraine Pellegrino, former president of the Ahwatukee Republican Women
  • Gregory Safsten, former executive director of the AZGOP

Former Trump staffers and campaign members also indicted in the case are:

  • Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for Trump and one of the main points of contact for the Trump campaign as it sought to overturn the 2020 election and ensure Trump would serve a second term
  • Mark Meadows, who was Trump’s chief of staff in 2020
  • Christina Bobb, the Republican National Committee’s senior counsel for election integrity and a former attorney for the Trump campaign who was accused in the indictment of making “false claims of widespread election fraud in Arizona and in six other states.”
  • John Eastman, a former Trump lawyer who was disbarred in California for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
  • Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump aide who is still one of the former president’s advisors.
  • Jenna Ellis, a former attorney for the Trump campaign and a conservative media personality who was censured last year for making false statements about the 2020 election, and who pleaded guilty in October to a felony charge in Georgia for her attempts to overturn the election results.
  • Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign aide who was also indicted in the Georgia case.

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.

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