{"id":2566,"date":"2026-06-18T20:33:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T20:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2566"},"modified":"2026-06-18T20:33:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T20:33:50","slug":"arizona-prosecutors-dismissing-fake-elector-case-but-vow-to-seek-new-indictment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2566","title":{"rendered":"Arizona prosecutors dismissing fake elector case but vow to seek new indictment"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>PHOENIX<\/strong> | Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is dismissing a sprawling criminal case that alleged President Donald Trump\u2019s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others tried to overturn Trump\u2019s 2020 loss in the state.<\/p>\n<p>The decision announced Thursday marks the third such fake elector case filed by states to be dismissed, though the Democratic attorney general is vowing to bring it back to a grand jury in hopes of securing another indictment.<\/p>\n<p>The legal maneuver is aimed at getting around a Friday deadline for starting new grand jury proceedings after Mayes lost an appeal earlier this month. The appeal was filed after defense attorneys argued successfully that the original grand jury hadn\u2019t been shown the relevant parts of a law that governs how presidential contests are certified.<\/p>\n<p>Courts have dismissed similar cases in Michigan and Georgia, and a special prosecutor dropped a federal case in late 2024 that charged Trump with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. Those cases ended after Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. Cases related to the fake elector scheme remain in Nevada and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>The Nevada charges were dismissed in 2024 after a judge concluded Clark County, the state\u2019s most populous county and home to Las Vegas, was the wrong venue for the case. Later that year, though, the case was refiled in Carson City, Nevada\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n<p>The Arizona case had been stalled for well over a year while Mayes pursued the appeal.<\/p>\n<p>In Arizona, defense lawyers argued the law allowed for multiple slates of electors to be submitted to Congress in case the results were disputed. Federal law was amended in 2022 to specify that any given state could put forward only one slate of electors and that state governors are responsible for signing off.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Biden won Arizona in 2020 by 10,457 votes.<\/p>\n<p>The state attorney general has faced steep challenges in making her case.<\/p>\n<p>It was filed nearly three and a half years after the 2020 election and levels complicated conspiracy charges against the 18 defendants. A dozen dismissal requests filed by defense attorneys have slowed progress in court.<\/p>\n<p>The first judge on the case recused himself in late 2024 after an email surfaced in which he told fellow judges to speak out against attacks on Harris\u2019 campaign for the presidency. The next judge ordered the case to be sent back to a grand jury.<\/p>\n<p>Of the 18 Arizona defendants, two were former Trump aides, five were lawyers working for Trump and 11 were Republicans who submitted a document falsely claiming Trump won Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>Three defendants have resolved their cases, including one who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.<\/p>\n<p>The rest pleaded not guilty. Some said they signed the certificate in case Trump won court challenges and a new slate of electors was needed urgently before Congress\u2019 Jan. 6 deadline to tally votes.<\/p>\n<p>The case has factored into Arizona\u2019s attorney general race, where both Republican challengers to Mayes have publicly said they will dismiss the charges if they were elected to the post.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2560\">The European Union has quietly sought to reopen communication with Russia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2562\">Residents return to war-ravaged southern Lebanon with hope and sorrow after the US-Iran deal<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2564\">Israel seized more land from neighbors since 2023 than it has in decades<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PHOENIX | Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is dismissing a sprawling criminal case that alleged President Donald Trump\u2019s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others tried to overturn Trump\u2019s 2020 loss in the state. The decision announced Thursday marks the third such fake elector case filed by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[45,1294,1872,4190,4191,4192,4193],"class_list":["post-2566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation","tag-donald-trump","tag-joe-biden","tag-kamala-harris","tag-kris-mayes","tag-mark-brnovich","tag-mark-meadows","tag-rudy-giuliani"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Arizona prosecutors dismissing fake elector case but vow to seek new indictment - Denver Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2566\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arizona prosecutors dismissing fake elector case but vow to seek new indictment - Denver Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PHOENIX | Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is dismissing a sprawling criminal case that alleged President Donald Trump\u2019s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others tried to overturn Trump\u2019s 2020 loss in the state. The decision announced Thursday marks the third such fake elector case filed by [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=2566\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Denver Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T20:33:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=2566#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=2566\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/860d8c9be7e4969f72ed251197548d9b\"},\"headline\":\"Arizona prosecutors dismissing fake elector case but vow to seek new indictment\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T20:33:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=2566\"},\"wordCount\":558,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=2566#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/05daedb8cad1ee4ce52598d71f82f2a9.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"donald trump\",\"joe biden\",\"Kamala Harris\",\"Kris Mayes\",\"Mark Brnovich\",\"Mark Meadows\",\"rudy giuliani\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Nation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=2566#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=2566\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=2566\",\"name\":\"Arizona prosecutors dismissing fake elector case but vow to seek new indictment - Denver Moving Chronicle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=2566#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=2566#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/05daedb8cad1ee4ce52598d71f82f2a9.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T20:33:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/860d8c9be7e4969f72ed251197548d9b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=2566#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=2566\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/?p=2566#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/05daedb8cad1ee4ce52598d71f82f2a9.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/denvermovingchronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/05daedb8cad1ee4ce52598d71f82f2a9.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"FILE - Kris Mayes, smiles before a debate on Sept. 28, 2022. Arizona's former attorney general Mark Brnovich, suppressed findings by his investigators who concluded there was no basis for allegations that the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud. That's according to documents released Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, by his successor, Kris Mayes. (AP Photo\\\/Ross D. 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