The Arizona Republic

Arizonans may help get Trump arrested … in Georgia

- EJ Montini Columnist Arizona Republic USA TODAY NETWORK

The Washington Post recently reported that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ investigat­ion of former President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia may rely in part on prosecutor­s proving a similar pattern of behavior in other states.

The theory revolves around work done by a couple of firms hired to try to prove Trump had won, but whose findings were never released because they could not do so.

Willis is interested in the work the firms did in Georgia and other states.

What that means, potentiall­y, is that the most vilified Republican­s in Arizona may soon be heroes of a sort ... in Georgia.

For example, the Georgia prosecutor might want to know all about the pressure exerted on former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers by Trump’s minions.

A staunch Republican, Bowers refused to ignore his oath, abandon the law and the Constituti­on to void the decision of Arizona voters and declare Trump the winner in our state.

In resisting the pressure Bowers said, “I was trying to send a definitive message: This is hogwash. Taking away the fundamenta­l right to vote, the idea that the Legislatur­e could nullify your elections, that’s not conservati­ve. That’s fascist. And I am not a fascist.”

Also standing fast were Republican Maricopa County Supervisor­s Clint Hickman, Jack Sellers and Bill Gates, and Republican Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, all of whom refused to be bullied into abandoning their oaths.

All of whom put state and country over party. (What a concept.)

Not long ago it was reported that eight Republican fake electors in Georgia had accepted immunity deals from Willis.

Supposedly, they’re cooperatin­g with prosecutor­s.

We had a similar slate of fake electors here, led by former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward. Their goal was to replace the state’s 11 presidenti­al electors, committed by the vote to go for Biden, with fake Trump electors.

If Willis is out to prove a pattern of election tampering in states outside of Georgia, what happened in Arizona is a good match.

Or, as Morgan Cloud, a law professor at Emory University in Atlanta and expert on Georgia’s state’s RICO law, put it in the Washington Post, “For example, acts to obstruct justice committed in Arizona might be relevant if the goal of the enterprise, of the racketeeri­ng activity, was to overturn the 2020 presidenti­al election nationally, as well as in Georgia.”

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said earlier that she would be reaching out to federal officials

concerning Arizona’s fake electors.

I’m sure she’s keeping tabs on Willis’ case as well, looking for ways how it might assist her in any effort to hold those who tried to upend our election results criminally responsibl­e.

Which means, potentiall­y, is that the most vilified politician­s in Georgia may soon be heroes of a sort ... in Arizona.

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