Eastman Is First Trump Ally Arraigned in Arizona Election Case – The New York Times
Trump Federal Election Case
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The author of a plan to put forward fake electors in states Donald J. Trump lost in 2020 is one of 18 defendants charged in the Arizona case.
Danny Hakim and
Danny Hakim reported from New York and Rowan Moore Gerety from Phoenix.
John Eastman, a lawyer who advised Donald J. Trump’s 2020 election campaign, was arraigned in Phoenix on Friday on state criminal charges that he helped try to keep Mr. Trump in power after he lost the last presidential election.
Mr. Eastman is the first of 18 defendants to come before a judge in the Arizona case, which was brought by Kris Mayes, the state attorney general. Mr. Eastman faces charges of fraud, forgery and conspiracy.
Several other prominent defendants in the case are scheduled to be arraigned next week, including Boris Epshteyn, who remains one of Mr. Trump’s top legal advisers, and Mark Meadows, a former White House chief of staff.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, formerly Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, has also been charged in the case.
When she filed the charges last month, Ms. Mayes, a Democrat, said: “I will not allow American democracy to be undermined. It’s too important.”
In Phoenix, Mr. Eastman appeared in a cramped basement courtroom with a glass-walled holding cell on one side, where defendants awaiting arraignment in other cases wore shackles and orange jumpsuits.
The arraignment of Mr. Eastman, who wore a blue suit, lasted less than three minutes. A judge read him his rights, and state prosecutors, citing his compliance, did not ask for any conditions to be imposed on his release pending trial.
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