Giuliani also among them

Close Trump confidants charged with election fraud

The defendants are alleged to have conspired to rig the election by, among other things, impersonating voters to enable Trump's re-election in 2020.(Bild: APA/AFP/Getty Images/Brandon Bell)

Eight people are facing trial in the US state of Arizona for allegedly rigging the 2020 US election. They include Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

They are alleged to have conspired to rig the election by, among other things, posing as voters to enable Trump's re-election, according to the indictment published on Wednesday.

Names redacted in indictment
Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani is also among the defendants, his spokesman Ted Goodman admitted. His name and the names of seven other defendants have been redacted until the indictment is served, explained the Arizona Attorney General. One of the defendants is listed in the court documents as chief of staff in 2020 - a position Mark Meadows held in the White House at the time.

Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani (pictured) is also among the defendants.(Bild: APA/AFP/Getty Images/Brandon Bell)

The court documents also list a "former US president", Trump, as an unindicted co-conspirator of the total of 18 defendants. Representatives of Meadows and Trump did not initially respond to inquiries from the Reuters news agency.

Explosive events in Arizona
Arizona was one of seven states in which Trump's allies tried to secure the state's electoral votes for Trump, even though they went to Joe Biden. The President of the United States is elected by the electors of the individual states, who cast their votes in the so-called Electoral College.

Possible electoral fraud keeps courts busy
In Arizona and almost all other states, the winner of the election receives all the electoral votes of the respective state. To become president, a candidate needs 270 votes - the majority of the total of 538 electoral votes. The distribution of votes is based on the population of the respective state. Arizona has eleven electoral votes.

Electoral fraud is the subject of two further criminal proceedings in Washington D.C. and Georgia, in which Trump is accused of illegally attempting to overturn Biden's victory.