APS puts staff on leave after drag performance at prom - KOB-TV, Albuquerque Journal, KOAT-TV, KUNM News
The principal of Atrisco Heritage Academy High School has been replaced by an acting principal after a drag performance at the school’s prom.
KOB-TV reports APS has placed multiple staff members on administrative leave as the district investigates, though did not confirm how many.
According to a letter sent to families, former Principal Irene Cisneros has been replaced by acting Principal Anthony Lovato.
The April 20 performance by local drag queen Dylan Payan, who performs as Mythica Sahreen, has been shared widely on social media, garnering pushback from some who believe it was inappropriate for a high school audience.
The Albuquerque Journal reports Chief of Schools Channell Segura and Mark Garcia, associate superintendent of leadership, learning and equity sent an email to parents Wednesday. It said that the district was investigating what occurred during the performance and how students were impacted.
KOAT-TV reports it has obtained emails and texts confirming the school agreed to the performance. Payan told the outlet that he has performed at the school previously without issue, though agrees parents should have been informed.
Payan says he has received death threats over the incident and has yet to be contacted by school officials, adding he feels he’s “having to fight this alone in the dark.”
Train derails near New Mexico/Arizona state line, closes I-40 — KUNM News
A train has derailed just south of Interstate 40 west of Gallup, closing the highway in both directions.
The New Mexico State Police said in a statement that the train was hauling gasoline and propane and has caught fire.
Emergency crews are working to snuff out the flames. No injuries have been reported, according to state police.
Westbound traffic is being re-routed at exit 20 onto U.S. 491 to State Road 264 to Highway 191. Eastbound traffic is being diverted in Chambers, Arizona, onto Highway 191 to Arizona State Road 264 to U.S. 491.
The cause of the derailment is so far unknown.
Lujan Grisham expresses frustration with feds over cannabis seizures in leaked audio - Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News
An unauthorized audio recording captured Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham expressing frustration over seizures of legalized recreational and medicinal cannabis at U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints in Southern New Mexico.
As the Santa Fe New Mexican reports, Lujan Grisham says in the recording she's being hounded by the news media over the seizures and threatens to write a letter accusing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of failing to work with her administration on immigration.
The recording was posted Thursday night on the social media platform X. Lujan Grisham says in the recording she's "cranky" with the "secretary," an apparent reference to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Jodi McGinnis Porter, a spokeswoman for the governor, confirmed it is Lujan Grisham in the recording.
She said in a statement, "This unauthorized and edited recording of the governor's private phone call reflects what she has already said publicly — that she is frustrated by federal seizures of licensed cannabis products in New Mexico, particularly those from small producers. She has expressed the same concerns in phone calls with Secretary Mayorkas."
State Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca said in a statement: "In the leaked audio, there is substantive discussion about the border crisis, including the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into New Mexico, and the unwillingness of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to act."
He called on the Governor to clarify what elected officials are doing to keep the state safe.
UNM encampment in solidarity with Palestinians continues - Daily Lobo, KUNM News
An encampment in place since Monday is continuing on UNM's campus. It is in support of Palestinians and in solidarity with similar protests on campuses nationwide, as Israel's war in Gaza continues.
As the Daily Lobo reports, the protesters are calling for the University's Board of Regents to employ a resolution written by the UNM Law Students Against Imperialism, the UNM Muslim Student Association and the UNM College Democrats.
The resolution calls on the regents to investigate the University's financial holdings and, "begin a process of orderly divestment from companies consistently and knowingly involved in human rights violations and state violence in Gaza and the West Bank".
On Wednesday, April 24, at an Associated Students at the University of New Mexico full Senate meeting, President Garnett Stokes was asked whether campus representatives were going to come to a compromise regarding the camp. “There are many perspectives on many complex issues, and our focus is on education,” Stokes said.
UNM Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Cinnamon Blair said in a statement to the Daily Lobo: “Setting up tents and sleeping bags or an encampment of any kind is not permissible on the UNM campus, and is in violation of UAPPM Policy 2270; citations could be issued or arrests made for non-compliance.”
While police officers have visited the encampment at night, presenting notices demanding the protesters take down the tents, the encampment has remained in place.
USDA issues new testing requirements for dairy cattle amid bird flu outbreak - Alice Fordham, KUNM News
The United States Department of Agriculture has issued new mandates aimed at limiting the spread of the bird flu virus recently discovered in some dairy cattle, including in New Mexico.
Beginning Monday, a Federal Order will be enacted, requiring that prior to interstate movement, dairy cattle are required to receive a negative test for the virus at an approved lab.
Labs must report positive results to the USDA.
As of April 25, USDA has confirmed the presence of bird flu at 33 dairy cattle facilities in eight states, including New Mexico.
USDA has also confirmed that the same virus detected in dairy cattle has also been found at eight poultry facilities in five states, including in New Mexico.
NMDOJ investigates complaints about county commissioners - By City Desk ABQ
The New Mexico Department of Justice (NMDOJ) is investigating claims that some members of the Bernalillo County Commission have violated meeting rules.
In a letter dated April 24, and addressed to County Manager Julie Ann Baca and Attorney Ken Martinez, the NMDOJ said, “Based on the materials reviewed, there are indications that deliberations on public business and ‘caucus-like’ activities were taking place among various members of the Commission outside of open Commission meetings.”
The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government filed a complaint with the NMDOJ after receiving reports that commissioners had made a plan outside of the meeting to create a search committee to decide how to fill the position of the outgoing county manager.
Executive director Melanie Majors said FOG applauds the decision.
“This action is significant because it makes clear that a majority of the Commission discussed the selection process for hiring a new County Manager and agreed to the process in advance of the April 9 Commission Meeting in violation of the OMA,” Majors wrote in a news release.
Majors went on to say that FOG is particularly pleased that the NMDOJ pointed out that “while individual Commission members may explore the feasibility of resolutions prior to their proposal, individual Commission members are strongly cautioned to avoid engaging in any conversations, telephone calls or text messaging on matters of public business in order to reserve those discussions and deliberations for observation in an open Commission meeting. Engaging in a pre-meeting voting caucus or making an agreement with fellow Commissioners to vote on a particular matter prior to a Commission Meeting could constitute a rolling quorum in violation of the OMA.”
Today’s scheduled meeting of the County Manager Search Committee was canceled due to the NMDOJ decision, the county said. No rescheduled date has been announced.
New EPA rules will force fossil fuel power plants to cut pollution - Robert Zullo, States Newsroom via Source New Mexico
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released a sweeping set of rules aimed at cutting air, water and land pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants.
Environmental and clean energy groups celebrated the announcement as long overdue, particularly for coal-burning power plants, which have saddled hundreds of communities across the country with dirty air and hundreds of millions of tons of toxic coal ash waste. The ash has leached a host of toxins– including arsenic, mercury, lead, cadmium, radium and other pollutants – into ground and surface water.
“Today is the culmination of years of advocacy for common-sense safeguards that will have a direct impact on communities long forced to suffer in the shadow of the dirtiest power plants in the country,” said Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, one of the nation’s oldest and largest environmental organizations. “It is also a major step forward in our movement’s fight to decarbonize the electric sector and help avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”
But some electric industry and pro-coal organizations blasted the rules as a threat to jobs and electric reliability at a time when power demands are surging. They also criticized the rule’s reliance on largely unproven carbon capture technologies.
America’s Power, a trade organization for the nation’s fleet of about 400 coal power plants across 42 states, called the number of new rules “unprecedented,” singling out thenew emissions standards that will force existing coal plants to cut their carbon emissions by 90% by the 2032 if they intend to keep running past 2039. Michelle Bloodworth, the group’s president and CEO, called the rule “an extreme and unlawful overreach that endangers America’s supply of dependable and affordable electricity.”
‘THIS FORCES THAT’
Many experts expect the regulations to be litigated, particularly the carbon rule, since the last time the EPA tried to restrict carbon emissions from power plants, a group of states led by West Virginia mounted a successful legal challenge that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But Julie McNamara, deputy policy director with the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the agency took great pains to conform the rule to the legal constraints outlined by the court.
“This rule is specifically responsive to that Supreme Court decision,” she said. “Which doesn’t mean that it won’t go to the courts but this is so carefully hewn to that decision that it should be robust.”
The four rules EPA released Thursday mainly target coal-fired power plants.
“By developing these standards in a clear, transparent, inclusive manner, EPA is cutting pollution while ensuring that power companies can make smart investments and continue to deliver reliable electricity for all Americans,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said.
In some ways, they attach a framework to a sea change in electric generation that is already well under way, McNamara said.
Coal accounted for just 16% of U.S. electric generation in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In 1990, by comparison, it comprised more than 54% of power generation. However, some states are more reliant on coal power than others.
In 2021, the most coal-dependent states were West Virginia, Missouri, Wyoming and Kentucky,per a 2022 report by the EIA.
“This rulemaking adds structure to that transition,” McNamara said. “For those who have chosen not to assess the future use of their coal plants, this forces that.”
Heather O’Neill, president and CEO of the clean energy trade group Advanced Energy United, said the new regulations are a chance for utilities to embrace cheaper, cleaner and more reliable options for the electric grid.
“Instead of looking to build new gas plants or prolong the life of old coal plants, utilities should be taking advantage of the cheaper, cleaner, and more trusty tools in the toolbox,” she said.
THE CARBON RULE
In 2009, the EPA concluded that greenhouse gas emissions “endanger our nation’s public health and welfare,” the agency wrote, adding that since that time, “the evidence of the harms posed by GHG emissions has only grown and Americans experience the destructive and worsening effects of climate change every day.”
The new carbon emissions regulation will apply to existing coal plants and new natural gas plants. Coal plants that plan to operate beyond 2039 will have to capture 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032. New gas plants are split into three categories based on their capacity factor, a measure of how much electricity is generated over a period of time relative to the maximum amount it could have produced. The plants that run the most (more than 40% capacity factor) will have to capture 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032. Existing gas plants will be regulated under a forthcoming rule that “more comprehensively addresses GHG emissions from this portion of the fleet,” the agency said.
Michelle Solomon, a senior policy analyst for Energy Innovation, an energy and climate policy think tank, predicts that most coal plants will close rather than install the costly technology to capture carbon emissions.
“Climate goals aside, the public health impacts of the rules in securing the retirement of coal fired power plants is so important,” she said. Coal power in the U.S. has been increasingly pressured by cheaper gas and renewable generation and mounting environmental restrictions, but some grid operators have still been caught flat-footedby the pace of coal plant closures.
“I think the role of this rule, to provide that certainty about where we’re going, is so crucial to get the entities that have control over the rate of the transition to start to take action here,” she said. But the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s CEO, Jim Matheson,called the rules “unlawful, unrealistic and unachievable” noting that it relies on technology “that is not ready for prime time.”
And Todd Snitchler, president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association, a trade group for competitive power suppliers, called the rule “a painful example of aspirational policy outpacing physical and operational realities” because of its reliance on unproven carbon capture and hydrogen blending technologies to cut emissions.
A BEEFED UP MERCURY AND AIR TOXIC STANDARDS RULE
The EPA called the revision to the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards “the most significant update since MATS was first issued in February 2012.” It predicted the rule would cut emissions of mercury and other air pollutants like nickel, arsenic, lead, soot, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and others. It cuts the mercury limit by 70% for power plants fired by lignite coal, which is the lowest grade of coal and one of the dirtiest to burn for power generation.
For all coal plants, the emissions limit for toxic metals is reduced by 67%. The EPA says the rule will result in major cuts in releases of mercury and other hazardous metals, fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide. The agency projects “$300 million in health benefits,” including reducing risks of heart attacks, cancer and developmental delays in children and $130 million in climate benefits.
STRONGER WASTEWATER DISCHARGE LIMITS FOR POWER PLANTS
Coal fired power plants use huge volumes of water, and when the wastewater is returned to lakes, rivers and streams it can be laden with mercury, arsenic and other metals as well as bromide, chloride and other pollution and contaminate drinking water and harm aquatic life.
The new rule is projected to cut about 670 million pounds of pollutants discharged in wastewater from coal plants per year. Plants that will cease coal combustion over the next decade can abide by less stringent rules.
“Power plants for far too long have been able to get away with treating our waterways like an open sewer,” said Thomas Cmar, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, during a briefing on the new rules earlier this week.
CLOSING A COAL ASH LOOPHOLE
Coal ash, what’s left after coal has been burned for power generation, is one the nation’s largest waste streams. The 2015 EPA Coal Combustion Residuals rule were the first federal regulations for coal ash. But that rule left about half of the ash sitting at power plant sites and other locations – much of it in unlined disposal pits – unregulated because it did not apply to so-called “legacy impoundments” that were not being used to accept new ash.
“We’re going to see a long-awaited crackdown on coal ash pollution from America’s coal plants, and it’ll be a huge win for America’s health and water resources,” said Lisa Evans, a senior attorney with Earthjustice. “They are all likely leaking toxic chemicals like arsenic into groundwater and most contain levels of radioactivity that can be dangerous to human health.”
Groundwater monitoring data shows that the vast majority of ash ponds at coal plants are contaminating groundwater, said Abel Russ, a senior attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project. Butunder the old rule, Russ said, facilities could dodge cleanup requirements by blaming contamination on older ash dumps not covered by the regulation.
“This is a huge loophole,” Russ said. “You can’t restore groundwater quality if you’re only addressing half of the coal ash sources on site.”
However, several attorneys on the Earthjustice briefing said the new rules, which will require monitoring at clean up and hundreds of more ash sites, will only be as good as the enforcement.
“It’s meaningful only if these utilities obey the law. Unfortunately to date, many of them have not,” said Frank Holleman, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Native American tribes want US appeals court to weigh in on $10B SunZia energy transmission project - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Native American tribes and environmentalists want a U.S. appeals court to weigh in on their request to halt construction along part of a $10 billion transmission line that will carry wind-generated electricity from New Mexico to customers as far away as California.
The disputed stretch of the SunZia Transmission line is in southern Arizona's San Pedro Valley. The tribes and others argue that the U.S. Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management failed to recognize the cultural significance of the area before approving the route of the massive project in 2015.
SunZia is among the projects that supporters say will bolster President Joe Biden's agenda for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The planned 550-mile (885-kilometer) conduit would carry more than 3,500 megawatts of wind power to 3 million people.
A U.S. district judge rejected earlier efforts to stall the work while the merits of the case play out in court, but the tribes and other plaintiffs opted Wednesday to ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene.
The Tohono O'odham Nation has vowed to pursue all legal avenues for protecting land that it considers sacred. Tribal Chairman Verlon Jose said in a recent statement that he wants to hold the federal government accountable for violating historic preservation laws that are designed specifically to protect such lands.
He called it too important of an issue, saying: "The United States' renewable energy policy that includes destroying sacred and undeveloped landscapes is fundamentally wrong and must stop."
The Tohono O'odham — along with the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Center for Biological Diversity and Archeology Southwest — sued in January, seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the clearing of roads and pads so more work could be done to identify culturally significant sites within a 50-mile (80.5-kilometer) stretch of the valley.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs have alleged in court documents and in arguments made during a March hearing that the federal government was stringing the tribes along, promising to meet requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act after already making a final decision on the route.
The motion filed Wednesday argues that the federal government has legal and distinct obligations under the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act and that the Bureau of Land Management's interpretation of how its obligations apply to the SunZia project should be reviewed by the appeals court.
California-based developer Pattern Energy has argued that stopping work would be catastrophic, with any delay compromising the company's ability to get electricity to customers as promised in 2026.
In denying the earlier motion for an injunction, U.S. Judge Jennifer Zipps had ruled that the plaintiffs were years too late in bringing their claims and that the Bureau of Land Management had fulfilled its obligations to identify historic sites and prepare an inventory of cultural resources. Still, she also acknowledged the significance of the San Pedro Valley for the tribes after hearing testimony from experts.
Latest SCOTUS abortion case uncertain and could impact New Mexico - By Susan Dunlap, New Mexico Political Report
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday on an abortion-related case, this time over whether an Idaho anti-abortion law preempts a federal law that requires hospitals to stabilize a patient in a medical emergency if that involves abortion.
Idaho’s abortion ban only allows abortion in the event the patient is facing death. There is no exception to save the health of the pregnant person. In the few months since this law has been in effect in Idaho, one Idaho hospital system reported having to airlift pregnant patients to out-of-state hospitals for care about once every other week, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the Supreme Court during oral argument.
The case, Idaho v. United States, is the second time the U.S. Supreme Court has heard oral arguments in a case involving abortion this term. The previous case was over the availability of mifepristone, the first of a two-step abortion regimen. Justices are expected to rule on both cases in late June or early July.
The Idaho case has repercussions for states such as New Mexico in various ways. One is that if a majority of Supreme Court justices side with Idaho, it will increase more abortion patient referrals to states where abortion is still legal and safe, such as New Mexico. This comes at the same time that Arizona’s 1864 abortion ban is set to go into effect on June 8, though the Arizona House narrowly passed a repeal of that law on Wednesday, which would still leave a 15-week abortion ban in place.
Related: How the AZ Supreme Court decision on abortion impacts New Mexico
Advocates argue that another repercussion is that if the Supreme Court sides with Idaho, it could open the door to allowing any state to ban any type of emergency room care, such as providing stabilizing care in emergency rooms for patients with HIV/AIDS.
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act was enacted in 1986, under the Reagan administration, to prevent “patient dumping” on other hospitals. It requires that all hospitals that receive Medicare funding must stabilize a patient, regardless of ability to pay or insurance status, if the patient is suffering a medical emergency. Idaho and six other states have anti-abortion laws so severe, they conflict with that federal law.
Another concern for New Mexico is that the state of Texas sued the U.S. government over EMTALA in 2022. That case was not a part of the Supreme Court’s oral argument on Wednesday but it leads to the question of whether Texas could refuse emergency room care to stabilize a patient if that care means providing an abortion if the Supreme Court rules in favor of Idaho.
In a national press conference, Meghan Daniel, who heads a Chicago-based abortion fund provider, said during the call with reporters that if emergency care is no longer available, the cost of lifelighting pregnant patients to another state would cost tens of thousands of dollars, in addition to the other medical bills.
“The roll back of EMTALA could push our support to the breaking point for life flights alone – $12,000 to $25,000 per flight to risk health and life would undue abortion funds,” Daniel said.
Joan Lamunyon Sanford, executive director of the New Mexico-based abortion fund provider Faith Roots Reproductive Action, said another concern could be for individuals who live in New Mexico but who live so close to the state line that the nearest hospital could be in Lubbock or Odessa or Midlands. In addition, much of southern New Mexico is served by El Paso’s higher critical care hospitals.
“I think that’s a very accurate analysis,” Lamunyon Sanford said of Daniel’s statement. She said that in the event that Texas upends EMTALA in Texas, pregnant individuals who live in New Mexico could travel to a Texas-based hospital for a medical emergency only to find themselves airlifted back into New Mexico for emergency abortion care.
“These kinds of bans of any kind of care put a strain on medical infrastructure,” Lamunyon Sanford said.
Lamunyon Sanford said FRRA has not yet considered the implications for their abortion fund, which supports individuals traveling to New Mexico from out-of-state for an abortion but she expressed frustration over the situation.
“It’s just so profoundly disappointing that women’s lives and people with the capacity for pregnancy would be so expendable. By people who claim to uphold family values,” she said.
The female justices, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett, asked hard questions to the Idaho lawyer representing that state. But even if Coney Barrett sides with the more liberal wing of the court, the liberal faction will need at least one more vote and which direction Chief Justice John Roberts or Justice Brett Kavanaugh were leaning was not immediately clear during oral arguments. Justice Samuel Alito worried many because he questioned the fact that the phrase “unborn child” appears in EMTALA. This has raised concerns that he was signaling interest in the notion of “fetal personhood.” Unlike the mifepristone case the Supreme Court heard last month, the oral argument for this case ended without a likely outcome.
Katie O’Connor, director of federal abortion policy for National Women’s Law Center, said during the national press call that the worry that around Alito’s invoking the term “fetal personhood” “gets to the issue at the heart of this case.” Alito asked questions to invoke debate about there being “two people” whose lives are at stake in medical emergencies that involve a pregnant person.
“To single out pregnant people and pregnant people alone as the only group not entitled to receive emergency medical treatment…puts on display with Alito’s distorted phrase “the unborn child” in statute to mean something it clearly does not…gets to the heart of this case and what Idaho is trying to do,” O’Connor said.
Luna County corporal is charged for his role in deadly 2023 crash while responding to a call - Associated Press
A corporal with the Luna County Sheriff's Office has been charged for his role in a deadly crash that happened while he was responding to a call last November.
The crash in Deming killed 14-month-old Wyatt Franzoy and injured his mother.
Dash-camera video showed Corporal Paul Garcia speeding toward a reported robbery in his department-issued vehicle, traveling more than 130 mph at one point. While there was no video footage of the crash, court documents state he was traveling 99 mph in a 55-mph zone when he struck the family's car as it was making a left turn.
The sheriff's office policy advises that while responding to calls with lights and sirens on, deputies may not exceed 20 mph over the posted speed limit.
County officials did not immediately return a message seeking comment, and court records did not list an attorney for Garcia.
The boy's parents, Isabella Hernandez and William Franzoy, and their lawyer held a news conference on Wednesday to address the charges, television KVIA reported.
"Wyatt was my whole world, and now my life will never be the same because of Officer Paul Garcia and his recklessness," Hernandez said.
The charges include homicide by vehicle and great bodily injury by vehicle. Garcia has been placed on administrative leave and is scheduled to make his first court appearance in May.
These people were charged with interfering in the 2020 election. Some are still in politics today - By Kate Brumback, Associated Press
As Donald Trump seeks a return to the White House, criminal charges are piling up for the people who tried to help him stay there in 2020 by promoting false theories of voter fraud.
At least five states won in 2020 by President Joe Biden have investigated efforts to install slates of electors who would cast Electoral College votes for Trump despite his loss. Those slates were to be used by Trump allies in the House and Senate to justify delaying or blocking the certification of the election during the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, which was disrupted by pro-Trump rioters storming the Capitol.
Several of those charged or accused of involvement in election interference across the states are still involved in Republican politics today — including the lawyer overseeing "election integrity" for the Republican National Committee. And Trump, who faces federal charges in Washington and state charges in Georgia for his efforts to overturn Biden's win, frequently still claims the 2020 election was stolen, a falsehood echoed by many of his supporters.
Here's a look at the sprawling web of allegations, criminal charges and references to people in Trump's orbit as unindicted co-conspirators.
DONALD TRUMP
The former president faces state charges in Georgia and federal charges in Washington over efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and has been identified as an unindicted co-conspirator by investigators in Arizona and Michigan.
The Georgia charges came in a sprawling racketeering indictment in Fulton County in August that accused Trump and 18 others of participating in a wide-ranging scheme — that included the Republican elector effort — to illegally try to overturn his narrow loss in the state.
Trump is the only one charged in the federal indictment in Washington, but several close associates are recognizable as unindicted co-conspirators.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing his arguments that he should be immune from prosecution. He has clinched his third straight Republican nomination for president.
RUDY GIULIANI
Racketeering and conspiracy are among the charges the former New York mayor and Trump-aligned attorney faces in Georgia. In Arizona, the charges against him have not yet been made public.
In Michigan, a state investigator has testified that Giuliani is among several high-profile unindicted co-conspirators in a case against Republicans who signed elector certificates falsely saying Trump had won the state.
He's also an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal indictment in Washington, which cites comments he made at the "Stop the Steal" rally prior to the Capitol riot.
His spokesman, Ted Goodman, said in a statement Thursday that the "continued weaponization of our justice system should concern every American as it does permanent, irrevocable harm to the country."
CHRISTINA BOBB
Bobb is a lawyer and conservative media personality charged in Arizona. She worked closely with Giuliani as he tried to persuade Arizona lawmakers to block the certification of the election results. She later raised money for a discredited audit of the election results in Maricopa County and covered the spectacle for One America News Network.
As lawyer for Trump, Bobb signed a letter stating that a "diligent search" for classified records had been conducted and that all such documents had been given back to the government before an FBI search revealed dozens of protected documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
She was recently tapped to oversee "election integrity" efforts at the Republican National Committee.
Asked about Bobb's role with the RNC, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung accused Democrats of "weaponization of the legal system."
BORIS EPSHTEYN
A longtime Trump aide, Epshteyn was charged in Arizona, where a grand jury accused him of assisting with the fake electors plan.
He's a lawyer who has been by Trump's side for some of the former president's own court appearances, including Thursday in New York.
Epshteyn was a principal surrogate in the 2016 presidential campaign, making frequent television appearances. He briefly served as a senior White House adviser before becoming an analyst for Sinclair Broadcast Group.
MARK MEADOWS
Trump's White House chief is charged in the sweeping Georgia racketeering indictment, but not in connection with the Republican elector meeting. Among other things, he participated in a January 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during which the then-president urged the elections official to help "find" the votes needed to overturn his narrow loss in the state.
Meadows' charges in Arizona are not publicly known. He was also identified by the Michigan state investigator as an unindicted co-conspirator.
His attorney, George Terwilliger, referred to Wednesday's indictment in Arizona as a "blatantly political and politicized accusation and will be contested and defeated."
Meadows now works for the Conservative Policy Institute, a Washington think tank that describes his role as leading "strategic initiatives on Capitol Hill, with other partner organizations, and with grassroots activists across the country."
JOHN EASTMAN
A former dean of Chapman University's law school in Southern California, Eastman wrote a memo arguing that Trump could remain in power if then-Vice President Mike Pence overturned the results of the electoral certification during a joint session of Congress using the slates of Republican electors from the battleground states.
The charges against him in Georgia include racketeering and conspiracy, while the Arizona charges have not been made public. He's also named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal indictment, which quotes his remarks at the Jan. 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Georgia and his lawyer Charles Burnham said he's innocent of the charges in Arizona.
JENNA ELLIS
Ellis was charged in the Georgia indictment after she appeared with Giuliani at a December 2020 hearing hosted by state Republican lawmakers at the Georgia Capitol during which false allegations of election fraud were made. She pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings after reaching a deal with prosecutors. She wasn't charged in connection with the Republican electors efforts in Georgia.
It wasn't immediately clear whether she had a lawyer in Arizona who could comment on charges she faces there, which have not yet been made public.
MICHAEL ROMAN
A Trump campaign staffer and onetime White House aide, Roman was charged with several conspiracy counts related to the Republican elector meeting and the filing of the elector certificate in Georgia. He was also charged in Arizona.
Roman has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Georgia. It wasn't immediately clear whether he had a lawyer in Arizona yet.
KENNETH CHESEBRO
Chesebro, a lawyer, worked with Republicans in multiple swing states to coordinate and execute the Trump elector plan. He was charged with racketeering and several conspiracy counts in relation to that work in Georgia and in October reached a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents.
Chesebro is an unindicted co-conspirator in Trump's federal election indictment, which says he "assisted in devising and attempting to implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding."
He was also named in the Wisconsin civil lawsuit, and when he turned over documents to settle that suit he didn't admit liability but promised never to participate in similar efforts.
SIDNEY POWELL
A lawyer and unflinching Trump ally, Powell was charged with racketeering and conspiracy charges in Georgia but was not implicated in the elector scheme. The Fulton County indictment accused her of participating in an unauthorized breach of elections equipment in a rural Georgia county elections office. She pleaded guilty in October to six misdemeanors accusing her of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties after reaching a deal with prosecutors.
She's an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal election interference case, where prosecutors say she filed a lawsuit in Georgia that amplified false or unsupported claims of election fraud.
JEFFREY CLARK
Clark was a U.S. Justice Department official who championed Trump's false claims of election fraud. He was charged in Georgia with racketeering and criminal attempt to commit false statements and writings after he presented colleagues with a draft letter pushing Georgia officials to convene a special legislative session on the election results.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges in Georgia.
He was also one of the unindicted co-conspirators in the federal election indictment against Trump.
REPUBLICAN TRUMP ELECTORS
In addition to Arizona, criminal charges have been filed against Republicans who presented themselves as electors in Michigan, Georgia and Nevada. Wisconsin Republicans who signed elector certificates reached a settlement in a civil lawsuit, admitting their actions were part of an effort to overturn Biden's victory. No charges have been filed in Pennsylvania or New Mexico, with the attorney general in the latter saying there's no avenue for prosecution under state law.
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Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.