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Arizona prosecutors dismissing fake elector case but vow to seek new indictment
By — Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/arizona-prosecutors-dismissing-fake-elector-case-but-vow-to-seek-new-indictment Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Arizona prosecutors dismissing fake elector case but vow to seek new indictment Politics Jun 18, 2026 3:38 PM EDT PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is dismissing a sprawling criminal case that alleged President Donald Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others tried to overturn Trump's 2020 loss in the state. The decision announced Thursday marks the third such fake elector case filed by states to be dismissed, though the Democratic attorney general is vowing to bring it back to a grand jury in hopes of securing another indictment. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. The legal maneuver is aimed at getting around a Friday deadline for starting new grand jury proceedings after Mayes lost an appeal earlier this month. The appeal was filed after defense attorneys argued successfully that the original grand jury hadn't been shown the relevant parts of a law that governs how presidential contests are certified. Courts have dismissed similar cases in Michigan and Georgia, and a special prosecutor dropped a federal case in late 2024 that charged Trump with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. Those cases ended after Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. Cases related to the fake elector scheme remain in Nevada and Wisconsin. The Nevada charges were dismissed in 2024 after a judge concluded Clark County, the state's most populous county and home to Las Vegas, was the wrong venue for the case. Later that year, though, the case was refiled in Carson City, Nevada's capital. READ MORE: Trump pardons Rudy Giuliani and others who backed efforts to overturn 2020 election, official says The Arizona case had been stalled for well over a year while Mayes pursued the appeal. In Arizona, defense lawyers argued the law allowed for multiple slates of electors to be submitted to Congress in case the results were disputed. Federal law was amended in 2022 to specify that any given state could put forward only one slate of electors and that state governors are responsible for signing off. Joe Biden won Arizona in 2020 by 10,457 votes. The state attorney general has faced steep challenges in making her case. It was filed nearly three and a half years after the 2020 election and levels complicated conspiracy charges against the 18 defendants. A dozen dismissal requests filed by defense attorneys have slowed progress in court. READ MORE: Mark Meadows pleads not guilty to Arizona felony charges alleging submission of fake electors The first judge on the case recused himself in late 2024 after
