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An Arizona grand jury that voted to indict 18 Republicans for their attempts to reverse Donald Trump’s election loss in the state also wanted to see criminal charges against the former president himself, according to new court filings.
Documents from Arizona’s attorney general’s office have offered a glimpse for the first time into a grand jury’s deliberations surrounding the state’s election interference case that led to criminal charges against more than a dozen Trump officials and his Republican allies.
It is unclear how many grand jurors wanted to see criminal charges against Trump, who by then was already charged in a federal election conspiracy case from special counsel Jack Smith.
But it was revealed that prosecutors, working under Democratic attorney general Kris Mayes, gave grand jurors a PowerPoint presentation to outline a Department of Justice policy about overlapping state and federal charges.
The prosecutors ultimately “requested” that grand jurors not indict Trump or several state lawmakers, according to a motion filed in Phoenix on Tuesday.
“I have not recommended that in the draft indictment, despite clear indications from you all that there’s an interest in pursuing a charge against him,” a prosecutor told the jurors, according to filings.
“I know that may be disappointing to some of you,” the prosecutor added.
The investigation into a Republican-backed plan to subvert Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Arizona, and deliver the state’s 11 electoral college votes to Trump instead, has resulted in criminal charges against more than a dozen top Trump advisers, Trump attorneys and sitting elected officials in Arizona.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorneys Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman were charged, along with Arizona Republicans who signed paperwork that falsely declared Trump the winner of the last presidential election.
Those Republicans included a former state GOP chair, two sitting state lawmakers, and a former Senate candidate.
They have pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy, forgery and fraud.
Trump was not mentioned by name in the 58-page indictment, but he was referred throughout the document as Unindicted Co-Conspirator 1 — a “former president of the United States who spread false claims of election fraud following the 2020 election.”
On Monday, the attorney general announced that charges had been dropped against former Trump-allied lawyer Jenna Ellis, who has agreed to testify against other defendants. Her testimony could be crucial in the case against Giuliani, Trump’s former personal attorney, who prosecutors have linked to several critical moments surrounding the spurious effort to overturn the state’s election results.
Last year, Ellis pleaded guilty to charges in a similar case in Georgia, where she also has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
On Tuesday, another defendant in Arizona, Loraine Pellegrino, reached a plea deal with prosecutors on a misdemeanor charge of filing a false instrument and will avoid jail time.
The agreement with Pellegrino — a Phoenix-area, right-wing activist who acted as secretary for the state’s fake electors — “reflects her desire to move forward and put this matter behind her,” according to a statement from her attorney Joshua Kolsrud.
Pellegrino received a sentence of unsupervised probation with community service, which “acknowledges her remorse and willingness to make amends,” according to her attorney.
Arizona is one of four states where prosecutors have filed criminal charges against so-called fake electors and others who used false claims about voter fraud to promote an effort to throw out results. It was part of a nationwide scheme by Trump allies perpetrated in swing states where he lost to Biden.
In June, a judge in Nevada dismissed the state’s case against six fake electors on procedural grounds, marking the first time that a case related to Trump’s attempts to reject election results has been dismissed.
Similar cases are underway in Michigan and Wisconsin, while another case in Georgia is hung up on appeals to determine whether the chief prosecutor — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — should be disqualified.
The federal election interference case against Trump — which was mired in delays for months as the former president argued that he was “immune” from criminal prosecution — is now back in the hands of a federal district judge. She will begin hearing arguments this month to determine how to apply a Supreme Court ruling that shields him from charges.
