Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was among the 11 allies of former President Trump who pleaded not guilty on Tuesday in Arizona to nine felony charges related to their involvement in a plan to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state. The 11 people arraigned Tuesday were among 18 people charged last month by a state grand jury over the plan. They include Giuliani and so-called “fake electors” who signed documents claiming to be Arizona’s Electoral College electors.
The ten others, who also pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, forgery and fraud charges related to the case, include former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward and her husband Michael Ward; state legislator Anthony Kern; Robert Montgomery, the former head of the Cochise County GOP; Republican Party activists Samuel Moorhead, Nancy Cottle and Loraine Pellegrino; Greg Safsten, the former Arizona GOP executive director; former Trump attorney Christina Bobb; and Tyler Bowyer, the Republican National Committee’s Arizona committeeman and the chief operating officer of the Trump-aligned Turning Point Action.
Giuliani, Bowyer, Cottle, Montgomery, Pellegrino and Bobb appeared virtually for the arraignment that was held in a Phoenix courtroom. Giuliani and Kelli Ward’s trials are scheduled for Oct. 17, about 3 weeks before the U.S. election. Giuliani said during his remote appearance that he did not have an attorney at this time, but when asked by the court whether he needed counsel appointed for the arraignment, he said: “No, no, I think I am capable of handling it myself.” Arizona authorities had tried unsuccessfully over several weeks to serve Giuliani notice of the indictment against him, but he was finally served as he was walking to a car after his 80th birthday celebration in Palm Beach, Florida last Friday.
Several of those charged in the Arizona case have also been arraigned on similar charges in Georgia, where prosecutors also allege that Trump allies tried to overturn the election there.
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