Former Donald Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani appeared in court for the first time in Arizona on Tuesday, and along with 17 others accused of trying to sway the results of the 2020 US presidential election – West Joe Biden.
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In April, Arizona courts indicted 18 people on charges of conspiring to throw electoral votes to Donald Trump, who is formally responsible for appointing the president of the United States.
Arizona, a key state in the current presidential campaign between the same two men, was ultimately narrowly won by Joe Biden.
Appearing via video conference on Tuesday, Rudy Giuliani denied the allegations. Specifically, he denies spreading false information about alleged election fraud in Arizona and pressuring elected officials to change the outcome of the election.
According to the indictment, the former New York mayor encouraged Republican voters in Arizona and other states to declare Donald Trump the winner when he didn’t.
Donald Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorneys Jenna Ellis and John Eastman, and campaign adviser Boris Epstein are among the accused.
Many of them have also been indicted in Georgia as part of one of four criminal investigations targeting former presidents, this time alongside Donald Trump.
Two other states have filed lawsuits against people suspected of trying to illegally change the results of the 2020 presidential election, Michigan and Nevada.
The 2020 election was marked by chaos in the weeks after Donald Trump was declared defeated. These tensions led to an attack on the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021 by supporters of the Republican billionaire. The latter refuses to recognize his defeat almost four years later.
