Donald Trump’s allies prosecuted in Arizona for election interference

The protagonist is not given a name. ‘Co-conspirator 1’ appears on almost every page, he is the lynchpin that connects all suspects. They did what they did before him. But in the sensational indictment that the Arizona justice department unveiled on Thursday evening, he appears to be described unnamed: ‘A former president of the United States who spread lies about election fraud.’

Donald Trump will not be prosecuted for election interference in the state of Arizona, at least for now. But seven of his allies do, as do 11 local Republicans. Among them are well-known faces such as Trump’s lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Jenna Ellis, and his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and campaign worker Mike Roman. They face prison sentences.

Arizona is now the fourth US state – after Georgia, Michigan and Nevada – to open a criminal case into attempts to keep Donald Trump in power after he lost his 2020 re-election to Joe Biden. Only in Georgia is Trump personally prosecuted for this, in addition to a case at federal level by prosecutor Jack Smith.

“I understand that this day has not come soon enough for some, and I know I will be criticized by others,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a video message Thursday. “I will not allow American democracy to be undermined. It’s too important.’

Months of research

The prosecution in Arizona is the outcome of months of judicial investigation into election interference. There was little difference here in 2020. Joe Biden won this southern desert state by just 10,457 votes, the tightest result of any American state – which was immediately contested by Donald Trump.

Employees of the then president put a plan into motion to elevate the loser to the winner. The idea was to replace the list of electors, who declare the winner on behalf of their state, with loyalists. They received cooperation from local politicians, eleven of whom are now also being prosecuted.

Similar efforts were made in half a dozen other states. This has already led to prosecution in three other places, and investigations are still ongoing elsewhere.

In the states of Michigan and Nevada, the judiciary chose to prosecute only local politicians, not Republicans at the national level. Michigan also names Donald Trump as a ‘co-conspirator’ who falls outside the scope of the criminal case. Why Arizona Attorney General Mayes chose to prosecute Trump’s national team, but not the former president himself, is unknown. In the state of Georgia, prosecutor Fani Willis made a different decision.

New name

For chief of staff Mark Meadows, campaign worker Mike Roman and lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and John Eastman, the criminal case in Arizona is the second round. They already heard prosecution announced against them in Georgia, there next to co-suspect Trump. Last October, Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty to conspiracy. She has promised the justice department in Georgia her further cooperation.

A new name among the suspects is Boris Epshteyn, a Trump confidant who has not previously been prosecuted. Epshteyn currently holds a high position within Trump’s campaign team for the upcoming presidential elections.

Among the local suspects are Kelli Ward, the former state Republican chairman, and state Senators Anthony Kern and Jake Hoffman. At the end of 2020, they signed official documents that would prove that Donald Trump had won the election in their state.

Spicy moment

Although ‘Co-conspirator 1’ himself remains out of the picture, this criminal case comes at a spicy time for Trump. Earlier this month, Arizona suddenly became the epicenter of the election campaigns after the Supreme Court there upheld a controversial 1864 anti-abortion law. That put Trump in dire straits.

The anti-abortion law is deeply unpopular in Arizona — and it was Trump who, as president, appointed the chief justices that ended the nation’s right to abortion. Last week, Trump was forced to limit the damage. He further weakened his abortion position and promised that a solution would be found. Yet last Thursday it was the Democrats who passed a motion against the law in the local House of Representatives, while almost all Republican representatives voted against it.

Arizona threatens to emerge as an electoral vulnerability for Trump; this so-called ‘swing state’ can mean the difference between election victory and loss. Although Trump was ahead in the polls, he appears to be losing that lead over Joe Biden in the coming months.

For months, Trump has been trying to shift the focus of the campaigns from abortion and election interference to topics that are more favorable to him. This is becoming increasingly difficult for him, especially now that the criminal trial against him has started in New York. This case, against his allies, now comes on top of that.