A judge in Arizona has set a Jan. 5, 2026, trial date for allies of Donald Trump who have been charged for their roles as fake electors in a scheme to overturn the 2020 election results.
At a hearing Monday, Arizona Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen scheduled the criminal trial to begin just one day shy of the fifth anniversary of the Capitol riots, though he called the 2026 date a “moving target.”
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, in April announced the indictment of 18 Trump allies over their efforts to subvert the election results in the former president's favor. One of the defendants pleaded guilty this month, and another, lawyer Jenna Ellis, has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for the dismissal of the charges.
The remaining 16 defendants who face criminal charges include Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani; Trump's former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; Trump's former legal adviser John Eastman; and Christina Bobb, a lawyer who is currently spearheading the Republican National Committee's "election integrity" efforts. All of them have pleaded not guilty.
The Arizona case is so far the only state-level criminal prosecution related to efforts to steal the 2020 election that has set a trial date. Trump is identified as a co-conspirator in the Arizona case, but he has not been indicted.
Defendants on Monday also tried to argue for dismissal of the charges by claiming that they infringed on their First Amendment rights, a defense that cites the state's anti-SLAPP law. Cohen has indicated that he is open to the defense, Politico reported.
As my colleague Steve Benen pointed out, the GOP has consistently rewarded alleged fake electors in several states, elevating them to prominent positions within the party. Some have been renominated as Republican presidential electors in the November election, and others — including several Arizona defendants — were picked as delegates at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July.