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Indicted fake electors at “The Signing” of Dec. 14, 2020, as seen in a video posted by the Republican Party of Arizona; Mark Meadows (left inset)(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File), Rudy Giuliani (center inset)(AP Photo/Matt Rourke), Boris Epshteyn (right inset) (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images).
The indictment of 11 fake electors, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, and several current or former Trump campaign lawyers in Arizona capped off a day Wednesday where former President Donald Trump was identified in two separate cases as an unindicted co-conspirator. The Arizona indictment, charging a slew of felonies, shows that weeks after the 2020 election, concerns about “legal exposure” were raised by Pennsylvania lawyers but were scoffed at by a Trump ally who remarked “f— these guys.”
The indictment began by hitting former Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward, her husband Michael Ward, Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, Jacob Hoffman, Anthony Kern, James Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Lorraine Pellegrino, and Gregory Safsten with nine felony counts each in the state conspiracy, fraud, forgery, and public record tampering case that stemmed from “The Signing,” which the Arizona GOP publicly posted on Dec. 14, 2020.
The Signing. pic.twitter.com/6gPsfqrk7T
— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) December 14, 2020
But beyond the signers of a document holding themselves out as legitimate electors, several of Trump’s post-2020 election lawyers and advisors were also hit with indictments (though their names were redacted since they had not yet been served, as Arizona AG Kris Mayes, a former Republican who became a Democrat in 2019, explained).
Still, it was easy to identify former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, top Trump ally Rudy Giuliani, Trump campaign lawyer Boris Epshteyn, former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis, former OAN reporter turned Trump lawyer Christina Bobb (recently minted as the Republican National Committee’s “election integrity” lawyer), former Trump campaign aide Mike Roman, and John Eastman, the retired law professor facing possible disbarment over the so-called Jan. 6 “coup memo.”
“Defendants’ attempts to declare Unindicted Coconspirator 1 and Pence the winners of the 2020 Presidential Election contrary to voter intent and the law, involved numerous other charged and uncharged coconspirators,” the indictment said, alleging a “scheme to keep [Trump] in office against the will of Arizona voters.”
The indictment, which you can read here, identified Trump as “Unindicted Coconspirator 1,” but there are several other unindicted figures, including attorney Ken Chesebro (“Unindicted Coconspirator 4”), a central behind-the-scenes figure in fake elector schemes across the key states that Trump lost. The documents detailed how Trump’s son, though it did not say which one, texted on Nov. 5, 2020, a way to overturn the election with one “very simple” trick.
“It’s very simple if through our lawsuits and recounts the Secretary of States [sic] on each state cannot ‘certify’ that states vote the State Assemblies can step in and vote to put forward the electoral slate Republicans control Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina etc. we get Trump electors,” the text said.
One day later, an Arizona congressional rep pushed the fake “a look doors” scheme and received and “I love it” response.
Chesebro’s communications in the weeks the followed appeared to clearly establish that there were worries in some Republican quarters about signing documents claiming, without “contingency language,” that the fake electors were “duly elected and qualified.” But those concerns were casually disregarded two days before “The Signing.”
“During a conference call on December 12, 2020, a Pennsylvania attorney expressed concern that the certificate of vote falsely claimed that the Republican electors were the ‘duly elected and certified electors,”” the indictment said. “He requested adding language to the certificates indicating that the Trump-Pence electors’ votes were contingent on being certified the duly elected and qualified electors.”
Ken Chesebro then texted “Mike,” appearing to be Mike Roman, about those concerns.
“Mike, I think the language at start of certificate should be changed in all states. Let’s look at the language carefully,” Chesebro said.
“I don’t,” the text recipient replied.
The indictment added that when Chesebro said he could “help with drafting in a couple hours,” the answer he got was: “f— these guys,” seeming to refer to the Pennsylvania lawyers who pointed out potential legal issues.
The next day, Chesebro said in an email: “Mike, here is my suggested language for dealing with the concern raised in the PA conference call about Electors possibly facing legal exposure (at the hands of a partisan AG) if they seem to certify that they are currently valid Electors.”
“Easily fixed ….” he added, “It strike [sic] me that if inserting these few words is a good idea for PA, it might be worth suggesting to Electors in other states.”
