Politics
Dem AG’s Controversial Case Against Trump Allies Suffers Massive Setback
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes’ controversial criminal case against senior Trump allies, elected officials, and Turning Point USA leaders suffered another setback on Monday when a state appellate court refused to overturn a lower court’s decision to send the case back to the grand jury.
Last year, Mayes’ office secured an indictment against senior Trump allies like Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, multiple elected officials and Turning Point Action COO Tyler Bowyer, among others. The highly controversial indictment accuses Trump allies of forgery for serving as alternate electors during the Trump Administration’s challenge to the 2020 election, something that has historical and constitutional precedent.
Similar indictments have been brought in Georgia, Nevada and Michigan, though the Georgia case has long been dead in the water while the other two have been dismissed. The Michigan case, which was brought by the state’s far-left Attorney General Dana Nessel, was dismissed by Judge Kristen D. Simmons, who determined that she saw no evidence of the group conspiring to commit fraud, and that the defendants sincerely believed there were issues with the controversial election.
“I believe they were executing their constitutional right to seek redress,” Simmons said.
Mayes — who narrowly won her election in 2022 by 280 votes — has vowed to continue the case regardless of dismissals in other states. The Democrat attorney general has faced a number of setbacks, however, including a May ruling in which a Maricopa County judge sent the case back to the grand jury after finding prosecutors should have provided more information to the grand jury that indicted the defendants.
Prosecutors with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office claimed the defendants knowingly made false claims when they signed a document backing President Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the state. Judge Sam Myers ruled the grand jury should have been given the text of the Electoral Count Act.
Defense attorneys had argued in court that the defendants were well within their rights to sign the document as a “contingency” in the event legal challenges contesting the results of the 2020 election were successful. “Because the State failed to provide the ECA to the grand jury, the Court finds that the defendants were denied a substantial procedural right as guaranteed by Arizona law,” Myers wrote in his ruling.
The judge’s ruling essentially brought Mayes’ case back to square one, as they would have to decide whether to seek the indictment again, drop the case or seek new charges against the defendants.
On Monday, an appeals court refused to overturn the lower court’s ruling. A spokesperson for Mayes’ office declined to comment when asked whether she plans to appeal to the state supreme court by KJZZ Phoenix.
