The battleground state of Arizona played a key role in the arraignment of former President Donald Trump in Washington D.C. on Thursday.
A federal grand jury charged Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights-- all pertaining to the results of the 2020 election. Trump pled not guilty to all of the charges, calling the latest federal push a "witch hunt" in an earlier social media post.
The indictment cites conversations between former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and co-conspirator 1, which Rudy Giuliani's attorneys have confirmed as him, in which Giuliani attempts to persuade Bowers to find a way for the state Legislature to somehow flip the results in Arizona to go in Trump's favor.
"On December 1, Co-Conspirator 1 met with the Arizona House Speaker. When the Arizona House Speaker again asked Co-Conspirator 1 for evidence of the outcome-determinative election fraud he and the Defendant had been claiming, Co-Conspirator 1 responded with words to the effect of, 'We don't have the evidence, but we have lots of theories,'" the indictment states.
Prior to the Dec. 1 conversation, the indictment says that Trump and Giuliani called Bowers on Nov. 22, in which they alleged election fraud but could not provide evidence. Trump and Giuliani alleged that "non-citizens, non-residents, and dead people" voted illegally in Arizona. The indictment later states that Trump specifically falsely claimed that 36,000 non-citizens voted in the state's close election.
