Interference in the 2020 election results continues to haunt Trump loyalists legally

The interference of then US President Donald Trump in the outcome of the 2020 elections, which he lost, led to the filing of a new criminal case on Wednesday. An Arizona grand jury has agreed to bring charges against eighteen people who allegedly tried to reverse Joe Biden's election win in the western state on Trump's behalf. The former president himself is not a suspect in the case, and is referred to in the indictment as an “unindicted co-conspirator.”

The case in Arizona revolves around the Trump team's plan to subvert Biden's election through the Electoral College in the aftermath of the election. In the American graduated electoral system, 538 points Voters (Voters) formally appoint the president on behalf of the 50 states, and the House and Senate then confirm that selection in a joint session. In a few states where Trump narrowly lost, his lawyers have drawn up a “replacement” list of electors who still have to give him victory. They did so under the pretext that there were indications of election fraud.

However, this claim had already been rejected by several justices in previous weeks, and thus Congress ignored the lists of “fraudulent electoral votes.” On the night of January 6 to 7, 2021 – after several hours of delay due to the storming of the Capitol instigated by Trump – the House of Representatives and the Senate finalized Biden's victory.

More cases elsewhere in the country

The 11 Republicans who expressed a willingness to vote for Trump as electors in Arizona in mid-December 2020 are now on trial for conspiracy, fraud and forgery. The seven other suspects charged include Trump's lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, and then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

These three Trump loyalists also play an important role in two cases opened elsewhere in the country against the former president and his entourage for their attempts to undo his loss. The federal case was filed in Washington, D.C., last August by special prosecutor Jack Smith. A second hearing occurred in Atlanta, Georgia, where District Attorney Fanny Willis indicted the former president and eighteen co-defendants a few weeks after Smith. Three fake voters are also being tried in this southern state.

Michigan justice also filed charges last July against sixteen Republicans who wanted to serve as electors for Trump despite Biden's victory in the Midwestern state. One of the suspects is now cooperating with law enforcement authorities, while the other 15 have declared their innocence. Last December, a grand jury in Arizona's neighboring state, Nevada, also approved an indictment against six Republicans who signed their names as “fake voters.” Both cases have not happened yet.

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