In Arizona fake electors case, judge weighs new protection for defendants
Allies of Donald Trump are using an unusual new Arizona law to urge a judge to throw out a criminal case charging them with fraudulently trying to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election result.
The law they’re citing was designed to stop prosecutors from bringing flimsy cases out of political animus. The defendants now trying to harness it include former Trump legal adviser John Eastman and other Trump confidants, as well as Arizona Republicans who falsely claimed that Trump won Arizona and held themselves out as the state’s legitimate electors in the Electoral College.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat who took office in 2023, brought the case in April. Trump was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator.
At an all-day hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court on Monday, Judge Bruce Cohen signaled openness to the defendants’ arguments for the charges to be tossed out under Arizona’s so-called anti-SLAPP law. If Cohen finds that the arguments have merit, he could order a further hearing to gather evidence about the defendants’ claims of political persecution.