Arizona Fake Electors Case: Rudy Giuliani, Trump Allies Plead Not Guilty

By Rick Martin First Posted: May 21, 2024 08:30 PM EDT

After Rudy Giuliani was finally served at his 80th birthday party, all defendants in the Arizona fake electors case have now been served, and the case is officially underway. It kicked off on Tuesday during a hearing inside a Maricopa County court Tuesday where nine Arizona Republicans and two Trump aides, including Rudy Giuliani, all pleaded "not guilty."

Giuliani had been hiding from the Arizona prosecutors who were seeking to serve his court orders before they finally tracked him down during his birthday party through his Amazon gift registry. The Arizona court system was not very happy with the former New York City mayor's antics.

"Quite frankly, he has been mocking the justice system in Arizona," state prosecutor Nick Klingerman told reporters after the hearing. The former Trump lawyer was taunting prosecutors just a few hours before they served him the court summons.

According to Arizona Central, the other Trump allies who pleaded "not guilty" on Tuesday included fake electors Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, Anthony Kern, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Loraine Pellegrino, Gregory Safsten, Kelli Ward, and Michael Ward. Former Trump campaign lawyer Christina Bobb also pleaded "not guilty."

Co-defendants Kelli Ward and Michael Ward, through their attorney, Brad Miller, insisted they did nothing wrong as they stated that they were part of a legitimate slate of electors and that they committed no crime, with the lawyer adding that he wants to see the grand jury transcript.

However, Arizona prosecutor Klingerman pushed back against the Wards' claim, stating that "the indictment clearly states the allegations."

There are a total of 18 Arizona fake electors case co-defendants, which means that there are still several who have not been arraigned yet. Former President Donald Trump is not one of those 18 co-defendants but remains an unindicted co-conspirator.

Rudy Giuliani Did Not Have Legal Representation and Was Forced To Represent Himself

Giuliani, who had only been served his summons in Florida just recently, was unable to physically go to Arizona for the proceedings, Instead, he appeared remotely and told the court that he received a summons but did not have a copy of the indictment.

In his remote appearance, the former New York City mayor added that while he did not have a copy of the indictment, he was already familiar with the charges by reading about them. He also told the court that he did not have an attorney but stated that he "felt capable of handling the arraignment himself," according to the Associated Press.

Giuliani also rambled on during the hearing, ranting about why he had to be indicted in Arizona. The judge was forced to cut him off while he ranted and rambled.

Arizona AG Talks About How They Caught Rudy Giuliani

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes talked about how they managed to catch Rudy Giuliani off-guard when they served him his court summons, stating that it was all because of his penchant for podcasting and livestreaming online, even taunting Arizona prosecutors.

"I think Rudy Giuliani knows how this works and obviously, as you know, he does a lot of podcasting. It's pretty easy to locate and to find but he was not accepting service and was dodging our agents," said the AG. "Is that how you had to find him? Basically, you had to look at his livestreams and his podcasts to figure out where he was?"

"We found out essentially through his livestreams," she added. "He's not that hard to find. And so we did that and our agents professionally served him after his birthday party, as the party was winding down and as he himself was leaving the house that he was in, we gave him a copy of the papers, and he went along his way."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Rudy Giuliani Gets SERVED Indictment Papers At Birthday Bash - The Young Turks