Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is dismissing a case that alleged President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and others tried to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in the state.

Case Background

The decision marks the third such fake elector case filed by states to be dismissed. However, Mayes is vowing to bring it back to a grand jury in hopes of securing another indictment. The case has been stalled for over a year while Mayes pursued an appeal.

Defense lawyers argued that 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.

Reaction and Next Steps

Mark L. Williams, an attorney for Giuliani, said his client and the others charged in the case did nothing wrong and were only exercising their rights to free speech and to petition the government. Kelli Ward, the state GOP’s chair during the 2020 election season and one of the 18 defendants in the case, criticized Mayes for damaging the reputations and finances of those charged.

Mayes’ office has declined to comment on Ward’s criticism. The case has factored into Arizona’s attorney general race, where both Republicans vying to challenge Mayes in the general election have publicly said they would dismiss the charges if they were elected to the post.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.