Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes confirmed that Rudy Giuliani was indicted in connection to the 2020 election case centered around former President Trump.
“The final defendant was served moments ago. @RudyGiuliani nobody is above the law,” Mayes, a Democrat, wrote on X late Friday, confirming Giuliani is the 18th defendant charged in the state’s fake electors case.
Mayes responded to a since-deleted post by Giuliani that read, “If authorities can’t find me by tomorrow morning: 1. They must dismiss the indictment; 2. They must concede they can’t count votes,” FOX 10 Phoenix reported. The former New York City mayor was celebrating his 80th birthday over the weekend.
Sharing photos of party-goers and 80th birthday balloons in another post Saturday, Giuliani wrote to his 1.7 million followers, “FAKE NEWS ALERT: Contrary to reports from journalists who weren’t there, our early 80th birthday celebration wasn’t ‘ruined’ or interrupted. It was an incredible night w/ friends, including Steve Bannon & Roger Stone. It felt like a strategy session on how to save America!”
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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., Dec. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Giuliani political adviser Ted Goodman, however, confirmed in a statement reported by the Associated Press that Giuliani was served Friday night after his 80th birthday celebration as he was walking to the car.
“We look forward to full vindication soon,” Goodman said in a statement Saturday.
The attorney general’s spokesman Richie Taylor said in an email to the Associated Press on Saturday that Giuliani faces the same charges as the other defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.
The indictment alleges that Giuliani “pressured” Arizona legislators and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to change the outcome of Arizona’s election and that he was responsible for encouraging Republican electors in Arizona and six other contested states to vote for Trump.Taylor said an unredacted copy of the indictment will be released Monday. He said Giuliani is expected to appear in court Tuesday unless he is granted a delay by the court.
Mark Meadows, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, is among others who have been indicted in the case.
Neither Meadows nor Giuliani were named in the redacted grand jury indictment released earlier because they had not been served with it, but they were readily identifiable based on descriptions in the document. The Arizona attorney general’s office said Wednesday that Meadows had been served and confirmed that he was charged with the same counts as the other named defendants, including conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani arrives for the funeral of NYPD officer Jonathan Diller on March 30, 2024, in Massapequa, New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
With the indictments, Arizona becomes the fourth state where allies of the former president have been charged with using false or unproven claims about voter fraud related to the election.
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Among the defendants are 11 Arizona Republicans who submitted a document to Congress declaring that Trump won in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election — including a former state GOP chair, a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate and two sitting state lawmakers. The other defendants are Mike Roman, who was Trump’s director of Election Day operations, and four attorneys accused of organizing an attempt to use fake documents to persuade Congress not to certify Biden’s victory: John Eastman, Christina Bobb, Boris Epshteyn and Jenna Ellis.
Trump himself was not charged but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Rudy Giuliani attends the funeral services for NYPD Officer Jonathan Diller at the Saint Rose of Lima Catholic Church on Saturday March 30, 2024. (Theodore Parisienne for NY Daily News via Getty Images)
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Giuliani faces other legal proceedings, and a bankruptcy judge this past week said he was “disturbed” about the status of the case and for missed deadlines to file financial disclosure reports. Giuliani filed for bankruptcy after being ordered to pay $148 million to two former election workers for spreading allegedly false information about their role in the 2020 election.
Giuliani was also indicted last year by a grand jury in Georgia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
