Arizona prosecutors are investigating President-elect Donald Trump’s top allies by securing a trove of emails, texts and phone records as part of their investigation into attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The documents, spanning from Nov.. 1, 2020, to Feb. 1, 2021, were obtained through search warrants directed at the Google and Apple iCloud accounts of Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, and Boris Epshteyn, according to the court filing. Although the court currently prevents prosecutors from reviewing the material to allow the defendants to screen out irrelevant data, Meadows has requested that the court discard the data altogether.
Meadows argues that the search warrant was excessively broad and unsupported by sufficient evidence linking him to the alleged conspiracy, the court filing stated. Meadows neither claims ownership of the phones nor the iCloud accounts involved.
In April, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes indicted Meadows along with other individuals in relation to a purported “fake elector scheme” during the 2020 election, linking them to Trump. Mayes also shared a video on X (formerly Twitter), alleging that the indicted group, alongside others not formally charged, sought to subvert Arizona voters’ intentions in the 2020 election.
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The Washington Post reported that seven lawyers and aides linked to Trump, including Meadows, campaign advisor Boris Epshteyn, campaign staffer Mike Roman, and attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman, and Christina Bobb, were allegedly involved. Although Trump was not directly named in the document, Mayes labeled him as a co-conspirator.
In response to inquiries from the Post, George Terwilliger, Meadows’ attorney, said that any indictment involving Meadows represents a politically motivated attack. He vowed to vigorously defeat such claims. Meanwhile, Eastman’s lawyer, Charles Burnham, said his client is innocent on all charges. Giuliani’s spokesperson, Ted Goodman, criticized the indictment as a detrimental misuse of the justice system.
Prosecutors have been combing through a vast quantity of data collected from technology companies, according to the court filing. In response to 10 search warrants issued in April and May, these companies turned over emails, texts, call records, contact lists, and geolocation data pertaining to the 18 defendants.
Meadows’ motion to suppress the evidence criticizes the scope of the warrant, which he claims produced an excessive amount of personal information. Prosecutors have countered these arguments by emphasizing that the warrant was precisely focused on the three-month period relevant to the alleged crimes and was strictly limited to potential evidence.
Arizona, alongside Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan and Georgia, has prosecuted Trump allies for their involvement in purported “fake elector” schemes during the 2020 election. Michigan has charged 16 Republicans while Nevada has charged six for their alleged involvement in similar schemes concerning “fake electors” during the 2020 election.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/Arizona Department of Transportation)
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