An Arizona judge set a 2026 trial date for Rudy Guiliani, Mark Meadows, and 16 others connected to former President Donald Trump, CNN reported. These defendants are accused of conspiring to subvert the 2020 presidential election results on behalf of the former president.
Arizona Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen, who is a Democrat, ordered the trial to begin on January 5, 2026, to prosecute a case that will be six years old by then. He clarified that the start date is still a "moving target" despite the decision on Monday.
The date is six months later than originally requested. However, the judge explained that it would allow defense attorneys time for the discovery process and interviews for some 80 witnesses the prosecutors have listed for the trial.
Notably, Trump is not one of those indicted but is referred to as "unindicted co-conspirator 1" in legal filings about the alleged attempt to overturn the election results. Prosecutors have claimed to this fact proves that the indictment is not politically motivated.
Prosecutors claim that several Republicans planned to unlawfully cast electoral votes in a scheme allegedly cooked up by conservative attorney John Eastman. Arizona has dubbed them fake electors as they planned to cast electoral votes for Trump on the notion that he had won the state.
Earlier this month, prosecutors successfully flipped their first defendant when Jenna Ellis, Trump's 2020 campaign attorney, turned state's witness to avoid charges for herself. She will now testify against others in Trump's circle.
Initially, prosecutors pinned her with several felony counts which later proved useful for turning her. They struck a similar plea deal with Loraine Pellegrino, who was nabbed for allegedly signing a false electoral document, that has also turned her into a witness.
Pellegrino will plead guilty to a false document charge, but the other criminal charges concerning the conspiracy will be dismissed. Others of the so-called fake electors will have to wait until 2026 for their cases to be adjudicated as they face criminal charges.
Still, White House aide and Trump confidant Boris Epshteyn, who was also named in the indictment, is sticking to a plea of not guilty. Meanwhile, other big fish like Guiliani, Trump's personal attorney at the time, and then-chief of staff Mark Meadows, are not going down without a fight.
Meadows objected to the indictment claiming he was involved in advocating for Trump but didn't participate in the elector effort. His attorneys requested moving his trial to federal court because his conduct fell under official duties at the time.
"Nothing Mr. Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se. Rather, it consists of allegations that he received (and occasionally responded to) messages from people who were trying to get ideas in front of President Trump or seeking to inform Mr. Meadows about the strategy and status of various legal efforts by the President’s campaign," the filing said.
"This is precisely the kind of state interference in a federal official’s duties that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibits and that the removal statute shields from adjudication in a state court," Meadows' attorneys argued. Guiliani's attorneys also cited the Constitution but took a First Amendment approach.
"How is Mr. Giuliani to know that, oh my gosh, he presided over a meeting in downtown Phoenix. How is he to know that that's a crime?" Guiliani's attorney, Mark Williams, said about Guiliani's claims about a stolen election, according to CBS News.
Although Trump wasn't indicted, this case is being used to pressure Trump's associates to turn against him because they repeated claims that many people felt were worth exploring about the 2020 election. The left will stop at nothing to get Trump, whether directly or through his associates and supporters.
