PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court has denied a prosecutor’s appeal of an order that the state’s fake elector case against President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others over the 2020 presidential election be sent back to a grand jury.
The decision released Thursday marks another setback for Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes as she struggles to push the sprawling case through the courts. Mayes’ office said it will again present the case in its entirety to a grand jury rather than end the prosecution. Her office declined to comment further on the court's decision.
The ruling came after similar cases in Michigan and Georgia were dismissed by the courts and a special prosecutor dropped a federal case in late 2024 that charged Trump with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. Cases related to the fake elector scheme remain in Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin.
A lower-court judge in Phoenix concluded in May that the case’s first grand jury hadn’t been shown the text of the Electoral Count Act, a 19th century law that governs the certification of presidential contests and was invoked by those charged in defending themselves.
Defense lawyers argued the law allowed for multiple slates of electors to be submitted to Congress in case the results were disputed, though it was amended in 2022 to specify that a state could put forward only one slate of electors and that it was the governor who would sign off. Mark L. Williams, an attorney representing Giuliani, applauded the court’s decision and questioned whether Mayes’ office will carry through on its promise to bring the case back to the grand jury. “In my mind, the whole thing is meritless," Williams said. "Mr. Giuliani has done nothing wrong.” There has been no movement in the Arizona case at the trial court level since mid-May 2025.
Former President Joe Biden won Arizona in 2020 by 10,457 votes.
The state attorney general has faced steep challenges in making her case.
It was filed nearly three and a half years after the 2020 election and levels complicated conspiracy charges against 18 defendants. A dozen dismissal requests filed by defense attorneys have slowed down the case’s pace.
The first judge on the case recused himself in late 2024 after an email surfaced in which he told fellow judges to speak out against attacks on Kamala Harris’ campaign for the presidency. The next judge ordered the case to be sent back to a grand jury.
Of the 18 Arizona defendants, two were former Trump aides, five were lawyers working for Trump and 11 were Republicans who submitted a document falsely claiming Trump won Arizona.
Three defendants have resolved their cases, including one who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge.
The rest have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges. Some said they signed the certificate in case Trump won court challenges and a new slate of electors was needed urgently before Congress’ Jan. 6 deadline to tally votes.
FILE - Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes speaks at the Arizona State Prison, March 19, 2025, in Florence, Ariz. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb, File)
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country.
Speaking in response to a question from The Associated Press during a meeting with heads of international news agencies, Putin acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks, and vowed to bolster its air defenses in response.
The media session came on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, his annual showcase for investment. Hours before the forum opened Wednesday, a Ukrainian drone attack set ablaze an oil terminal in the city and also hit a naval base just outside Putin’s hometown.
Putin also said that Russia is open for a compromise on Ukraine in line with understandings reached during his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, adding that Ukraine needs to accept them to make a deal.
Putin dismissed the idea that European Union countries could act as mediators in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, arguing that they were not neutral parties.
“Mediation assumes neutrality. Where is the neutrality here?" he asked.
He also stressed that potential third-party mediators needed to be trusted by both sides.
“How can Russia trust people who have been harping about the need to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia for years?,” he said.
Putin emphasized his push for control of the entire Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, noting that Ukraine controls about 15% of its territory.
Putin declared that “patriotism and will of the Russian people” will ensure the achievement of goals that Moscow set in Ukraine.
“Russian troops are advancing along the entire line of contact,” he said.
Wednesday's drone attack hit the nearby Kronstadt naval base and an oil terminal, sending a massive large plume of black smoke above Russia’s second-largest city. It was another embarrassing blow to his efforts to minimize the impact of the 4-year-old conflict and cast it as a distant event that doesn’t affect Russian daily life.
It also underscored Ukraine’s growing ability to hit deep inside Russia and showed the vulnerability of its cities. Scores of flights were delayed or diverted at St. Petersburg’s airport and authorities cut cellphone internet service to try to prevent drone attacks.
Putin had scaled down Russia’s annual Victory Day parade on May 9, fearing Ukrainian drone strikes. Days later, a massive drone attack on Moscow’s suburbs killed three and showed the capital’s vulnerability.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s forces were putting pressure on Ukraine “to prevent such attacks.” He noted that “systematic” strikes on Kyiv that Russia threatened last week are underway.
On Tuesday, Russia hit Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in deadly strikes.
Putin has used the forum to showcase his country’s economic advances and encourage foreign investment. Often styled as the Russian version of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, it usually draws tens of thousands of delegates from around the world.
While Western officials and business people have stayed away from the forum after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has sought to attract more guests from other regions to underline its declared goal of promoting a “multipolar world.”
Saudi Arabia, which is a special guest this year, has sent a large delegation. The presidents of Uzbekistan and Tanzania and China’s vice president also are attending. A U.S. official, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., head of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, is attending for the first time in years.
Russia’s economic outlook has clouded as the initial boost from massive military spending has fizzled. The government has raised taxes and increased domestic borrowing to keep its budget deficit under control.
Putin is expected to minimize Russia’s economic problems in a speech Friday.
People walk past a screen with an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin at an exhibition at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St.Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (Anatoly Maltsev/Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on measures to support relatives of those killed and injured in the attack on a college in Starobilsk, of the Russia-controlled Luhansk region of Ukraine, at the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, June 1, 2026. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
A plumes of black smoke is seen over the port of St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, after a Ukrainian drone attack. (AP Photo)
A plume of black smoke is seen over the port of St. Petersburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, after a Ukrainian drone attack. (AP Photo)
