Arizona attorney general relaunches 2020 election case against Trump allies
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says she will seek a new indictment against multiple Trump allies accused of trying to overturn the state’s 2020 election results using the “fake electors” strategy. The renewed case revives allegations that Trump advisers, attorneys, and GOP activists worked together to submit false documents claiming Trump had won Arizona, despite Joe Biden’s victory.
This effort follows a May 2025 ruling by a Maricopa County judge that dismissed the original indictment on procedural grounds: prosecutors allegedly failed to properly instruct grand jurors about the federal Electoral Count Act before seeking charges. After the Arizona Supreme Court declined to hear Mayes’s appeal, her office returned the matter to a new grand jury rather than drop it.
The earlier 2024 indictment named 18 defendants, including former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and campaign operative Mike Roman, as well as 11 Republicans who signed documents declaring themselves Arizona’s legitimate electors. Trump himself was not charged, but was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator. Defense attorneys and critics have argued the prosecution is politically motivated and that the conduct criminalizes protected political activity, while Mayes maintains the case is about accountability for efforts to interfere with Arizona’s election process.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is planning to secure a new indictment against several allies of President Donald Trump accused of participating in efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, reviving a high-profile case that had been dismissed on procedural grounds.
The new indictment would reassert allegations that Trump advisers, attorneys, and Republican activists participated in a scheme to submit false documents claiming Trump had won Arizona’s 2020 presidential election despite former President Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
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The filing comes after a Maricopa County judge threw out the original indictment in May 2025, ruling prosecutors failed to adequately instruct grand jurors on provisions of the federal Electoral Court Act before seeking charges. The Arizona Supreme Court refused to take up the attorney general’s appeal, prompting Mayes’s office to take the case back to a new grand jury rather than abandon it.
At the time of the initial indictment, Mayes said the charges demonstrate her office’s commitment to holding accountable those who attempted to interfere with Arizona’s election process. She called the alleged conduct an effort to undermine the will of Arizona voters.
Mayes had petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court to review the case, but the high court turned down her request in a ruling released Thursday.
The original 2024 indictment charged 18 defendants, including former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Trump campaign operative Mike Roman, as well as 11 Republicans who signed documents declaring themselves Arizona’s legitimate electors.
At the time of the 2024 indictment, a spokesman for Giuliani called the indictment a “continued weaponization of our justice system,” according to the Washington Post.
Trump was not charged but was identified in court filings as an unindicted coconspirator.
Prosecutors alleged the defendants conspired to create and transmit fraudulent electoral certificates to Congress as part of a broader effort to reverse Biden’s victory.
The grand jury’s approach to the indictment led the panel to be labeled “unusually aggressive,” according to reporting by Politico. Jurors took an unusually active role in the investigation, pressing prosecutors for additional witnesses and pursuing charges against some individuals who had previously been told they were not targets being probed.
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Defense attorneys have argued that the prosecution is politically charged and criminalizes protected political activity. Republican lawmakers and Trump allies made similar arguments following the original indictment, accusing Mayes, a Democrat, of using the legal system to target political opponents. The defendants have consistently denied wrongdoing.
Arizona is one of several battleground states where prosecutors pursued the so-called fake electors strategy that emerged after the 2020 election. While some related prosecutions in other states have stalled or been dropped, Mayes has pledged to press forward with the Arizona case, setting up another legal battle.
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