The Arizona Attorney General’s Office asked a judge to dismiss charges against the state’s so-called fake electors — but prosecutors indicated they don’t actually plan to drop the case altogether.
In 2024, an Arizona grand jury indicted over a dozen elected officials, former state party leaders and other Republicans for allegedly trying to undermine Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump in the state’s 2020 presidential election.
But, after more than a year in court, a Maricopa County judge sent the case back to a grand jury after finding prosecutors failed to adequately explain a federal law that the defendants say gave them a legal pathway to challenge Biden’s victory.
Attorney General Kris Mayes appealed that decision but both the Arizona Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court declined to take the case.
The Supreme Court’s denial on June 4 triggered a 15-day deadline for prosecutors to bring the case back to a grand jury.
On Wednesday, Nick Klingerman, Mayes’ criminal division chief, told the court the AG’s Office could not meet that June 19 deadline. He filed a motion to dismiss the case “without prejudice,” meaning prosecutors are allowed to refile charges at a later date.
Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who was accused of conspiring with the electors, celebrated the decision.
“The prosecutor in Arizona has finally dropped the unjustified and unconstitutional charges against me and all my innocent co-defendants,” Giuliani wrote on social media. “All the claims about falsifying data, electors et al was a part of the Democrat massive corruption of our previously world renowned justice system.”
However, Klingerman told the court that the attorney general still intends to bring the case back to a grand jury.
“This case is complex and will require substantial presentation of evidence and time to accommodate Defendants’ requests to testify and present evidence,” he wrote. “While the State intends to re-present the case to the State Grand Jury, that re-presentation will not happen within the 15-day deadline.”
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