Dem
51
GOP
49
Things were hopping in Arizona yesterday. While the legislative branch was wrestling with the state's Civil War-era abortion ban, the executive branch was going after some very high profile (alleged) miscreants. After signalling for months that this might be coming down the pike, a grand jury in the Grand Canyon State indicted more than a dozen people for crimes related to the 2020 fake electors scheme.
The complete list of indictees is not yet known, as some names are being kept confidential until all of the soon-to-be defendants are served. Maybe this is a courtesy to them, or maybe it's to keep them from knowing what is coming and evading service. Three names that ARE known, however, are biggies: Trump assistant/confidant Boris Epshteyn, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and America's Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The indictment also names all 11 of the fake electors, including former Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward. And it has been reported, by people speaking off the record, that former Trump lawyers Jenna Ellis and John Eastman and Trump ally Mike Roman are also among the indictees. So, that means that at least 16 people have been popped.
Because big chunks of the indictment are redacted, it's not entirely clear exactly what charges everyone faces. But fraud, forgery and tampering with a public record are among the alleged crimes, and the indictment also makes liberal use of the word "conspiracy." So, one gets the impression that it's going to be a similar prosecution to the one in Georgia (except not including Donald Trump). And at some point, these folks are going to turn on each other en masse, right? How many of them have the fortitude and the money to fight two and three and four different sets of charges? Meanwhile, how many people in Trump's orbit have to be charged with felony crimes before, say, 55% of the electorate remembers the old adage that a fish rots from the head down? (Z)