PHOENIX — Former Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was served Friday night in Florida with a summons to appear in an Arizona courtroom on Tuesday morning to respond to felony charges in the "fake electors" investigation.
Attorney General Kris Mayes announced the summons had been served in a post Friday on X, 74 minutes after Giuliani had taunted her office's failure to reach him in the three weeks since the indictment.
According to Mayes' spokesman, Richie Taylor:
- Two agents with the AG's office had trailed Giuliani on Friday from his home to the West Palm Beach-area home of Caroline Wren, a top advisor to U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake. Wren was hosting an 80th birthday for Giuliani.
- Giuliani was served outside the home as the party was winding down.
"They by no means disrupted the event," Taylor said in an interview Saturday. "They waited until the party was over and Mr. Giuliani was leaving. He was one of the last people leaving."
After he was served, Giuliani took down his taunts.
He said in a post on Saturday: "Our early 80th birthday celebration wasn't 'ruined' or 'interrupted.'"
Wren had claimed in a statement to the New York Post that "the Arizona Secretary of State's office felt it was a good use of resources to send multiple agents across the country to storm an 80th birthday party like it was Normandy."
The secretary of state wasn't involved.
The summons is the legally required notice that a person has been indicted. Giuliani had not been identified as a defendant in court documents because he hadn't received the summons.
Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and Republican presidential candidate, was the last of the 18 defendants to be served in the "fake electors" case brought by the AG's office. All are charged with the same nine felony counts of forgery, fraud and conspiracy.
Giuliani faces similar charges in Georgia's fake electors case.
In a separate defamation lawsuit, a Fulton County jury ordered Giuliani to pay two Georgia election workers $148 million for spreading damaging lies about them after the 2020 election.
The summons requires Giuliani to show up Tuesday morning to enter a plea in a basement courtroom at Phoenix's Maricopa County Superior Court building. His attorney can request a virtual appearance or ask the court to reschedule the arraignment.
On the Friday, the first "fake electors" defendant, former Trump lawyer John Eastman, entered a not-guilty plea. About 10 more defendants are expected to be arraigned Tuesday.
The alleged fake electors scheme was a coordinated attempt by Trump's allies to overturn his defeat in Arizona's 2020 presidential vote, potentially erasing the ballots cast by 1.7 million people.
Arizona was one of seven battleground states targeted by Trump's allies.
On Dec. 14, 2020, one month after the election, the state's 11 Trump electors gathered at Arizona Republican Party headquarters to sign a document that purported to declare them Arizona's legal electors.
The fake elector scheme could have disrupted the electoral college count by Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021, possibly putting the election result in the hands of the Republican-controlled House or Republican-controlled legislatures in the affected states.
The 18 Arizona defendants include all 11 Trump electors, plus seven Trump allies. Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator.
The Arizona electors have claimed what they did was legal because they declared themselves "alternate electors," who would have become official electors if Trump's challenges to the election results had prevailed in court.
But the document signed by the Arizona Trump electors said they were "duly elected and qualified." It did not condition their status on any future legal action, as did Trump electors in New Mexico.
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