Multiple Arizona Republicans and members of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle were indicted for election interference during the
Audrey McCabe at MMFA:
Multiple Arizona Republicans and members of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle were indicted for election interference during the 2020 presidential election, and right-wing media figures have responded by arguing that their scheme was lawful. Other right-wing figures have twisted the complicated rules of the Electoral College to make false comparisons to previous elections and pretend that the fake elector scheme was within the bounds of the system.
On April 24, a grand jury charged 11 Arizona Republicans and seven of Trump’s former top aides in connection with a scheme to submit fake electors in the 2020 election. The indictments allege that following his loss in the 2020 election, Trump and his team “devised a plan to recruit fake electors to replace legitimate presidential electors in key battleground states and reverse Trump's loss,” as USA Today explained it. Trump and his then-lawyer Rudy Giuliani reportedly pressured the Republican speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives to swap in electors for Trump based on unfounded claims of voter fraud. [USA Today, 4/25/24; PBS, 4/25/24]
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced the indictment, which alleges that the fake electors and Trump aides were trying to prevent “the lawful transfer of the presidency of the United States, keeping President Donald J. Trump in office against the will of Arizona voters, and depriving Arizona voters of their right to vote and have their votes counted." [Arizona Republic, 4/24/24]
Right-wing media make faulty comparisons to support those indicted in the Arizona fake electors scheme.
