Trump allies who sought to overturn election face new indictment in Arizona

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Trump allies who sought to overturn election face new indictment in Arizona
Mark Meadows. (Photo by Gage Skidmore)

Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes plans to seek a new indictment against allies of President Donald Trump who aided his bid to overturn the 2020 election, her office announced Thursday after the state Supreme Court rejected her appeal to revive the original case.

The high court's brief, unexplained ruling closed the door on a two-year-old indictment that had threatened some of Trump's closest allies — among them former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, attorney John Eastman, and 11 Arizona Republicans who falsely claimed to be the state's legitimate presidential electors.

The original indictment accused the defendants of scheming to keep Trump "in office against the will of Arizona voters" and "depriving Arizona voters of their right to vote and have their votes counted." Trump himself was named as "Unindicted Coconspirator 1."

The grand jury found that defendants "deceived the citizens of Arizona by falsely claiming" their votes were contingent on a pending legal challenge — when in reality, the indictment alleged, they intended to encourage former Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certified Biden-Harris electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021.

The case began unraveling last year when a Maricopa County judge tossed the indictment, finding that prosecutors had failed to present the original grand jury with the full text of the Electoral Count Act — a 19th-century law governing presidential certification that defendants cited in their own defense. Mayes appealed, but the state Supreme Court denied her petition Thursday without explanation.

Her office said it will now re-present the case in its entirety to a fresh grand jury rather than abandon the prosecution.

"I will not allow American democracy to be undermined," Mayes said when she first announced the charges in April 2024.

Similar prosecutions have faltered elsewhere: a Georgia indictment collapsed after Democratic Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified, special counsel Jack Smith's federal case was dropped after Trump won reelection, and a Michigan case was dismissed after a judge ruled the electors were mere pawns.

Trump issued federal pardons to all 18 Arizona defendants in November 2025 — but those pardons carry no weight against state charges. Cases in Nevada and Wisconsin remain pending.

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Jan. 6 rioter hired by Pentagon is handling 'extremely sensitive' security issues: NYT

A convicted January 6 rioter hired by the Trump administration will be working in a "sensitive" Pentagon office, the New York Times reported.

Elias Irizarry, who was just 19 years old when he entered the Capitol through a broken window, carrying a metal pole, will work for the Pentagon's Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office, per the NYT.

The office is responsible for defending against terrorist acts and asymmetric warfare and supporting U.S. commandos, according to the NYT.

"The office he was hired for works with the most elite military units and on extremely sensitive national security issues," Michael Lumpkin, a former assistant defense secretary for the office, told the NYT. "It used to be that any possible negative perception about a hire like this would prevent it from happening."

Trump pardoned Irizarry last year, but it's unclear who tapped Irizarry to work in the Pentagon, the NYT noted.

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House Oversight Committee releases Pam Bondi's Epstein testimony

The House Oversight Committee released on Thursday the full transcript of former Attorney General Pam Bondi's closed-door testimony last week, showing that Bondi was aiming to move away from the Department of Justice's handling of the release of the Epstein files.

The transcript also revealed that she told lawmakers that Todd Blanche, her former deputy attorney general and current Trump nominee for attorney general, was responsible for overseeing the Epstein files, CNN reported.

“He was in charge of the process and the entire release of the Epstein files,” Bondi said.

Lawmakers asked Bondi why the additional 3 million documents had not been publicly released yet following the first batch of 3 million files. She said the DOJ was not withholding other documents and argued remaining files were "either duplicates or privileged materials, despite bipartisan criticism that Trump’s Justice Department has withheld or overreacted to documents, while accidentally sharing information of Epstein’s victims," according to CNN.

"To my knowledge, they’ve all been released," Bondi said.

She told the congressional leaders that any questions surrounding further documents should be directed to FBI Director Kash Patel.

President Donald Trump fired Bondi from her position as attorney general in April. She and the department had faced mounting backlash over the release of the Epstein files and the rollout of the documents, which included names and personal information of survivors.

MAGA think tanks on the brink of war over their post-Trump future: analyst

The MAGA universe is preparing for a future without President Donald Trump at the helm, but that preparation is threatening to erupt into a free-for-all over control of the movement, according to a new analysis.

MS NOW's Lily Becker argued in a new op-ed that the president "has thrown a monkey wrench into the traditionally staid right-of-center world of policymaking, transforming or pushing aside established institutions and boosting startups such as the America First Policy Institute, American Compass and Advancing American Freedom that are hoping to rebuild a new conservative order."

This effectively sidelines legacy right-wing think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, which was dutifully involved in crafting Trump's infamous Project 2025 agenda and which saw a staffing crisis and schism last year.

The network that "once appeared to be a relatively unified intellectual pipeline has fractured into overlapping networks, each claiming to represent the future of the modern right," wrote Becker.

For example, she noted that Trump was already relying on some of these new groups to shape his policy ideas. "The America First Policy Institute in particular has functioned less like a traditional outside think tank and more like an extension of the administration." That group, founded shortly after Trump left office in his first term, "has become a major personnel pipeline to the administration, with former Trump officials, advisers and policy architects moving through its orbit."

All of this comes amid extensive speculation over who Trump's 2028 successor will even be, as Vice President JD Vance and Marco Rubio appear to be going through a behind-the-scenes vetting process even as it's unclear MAGA voters will want either.

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