Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and Trump’s 2020 Election Day operations director, Michael Roman, pleaded not guilty Friday in Phoenix to nine felony charges for their roles in an attempt to overturn the Trump’s electoral defeat in Arizona against Joe Biden.
Meadows and Roman appeared via video conference in brief, separate hearings before Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Shellie Smith, who set a trial date for Oct. 31.
Meadows and Roman spoke during the hearings only to answer Smith’s questions with their names and dates of birth. His lawyers intervened on his behalf to make his declaration of innocence.
The indictment alleges that Meadows worked with other members of the Trump campaign to send names of fake delegates from Arizona and other states to Congress in an attempt to keep Trump in office despite his defeat at the polls in November 2020.
The document points out 11 Republicans of Arizona and claims they filed paperwork falsely stating that Trump had won Arizona. Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes. The indictment also says Meadows confided to a White House staffer in early November 2020 that Trump had lost the election.
Roman is accused in the indictment of working closely with Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Boris Epshteyn and others to arrange fake votes by electors in Arizona and six other states.
Outside court, Roman’s attorney, Kurt Altman, vowed to fight the charges.
“Mike Roman has no relationship with Arizona. The reason for this accusation is beyond us,” Altman told reporters. “But we are going to face reality and defend ourselves.”
Attorney Anne Chapman represented Meadows remotely during the hearing. So far, she has not responded to a phone call and an email from The Associated Press in which comments were requested on behalf of their client.
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