By Howard Fischer
Mail | X: @azcapmedia

PHOENIX — A claim by Rudy Giuliani that the grand jurors who indicted him in the “fake elector” case may have been politically biased is nothing more than “pure speculation and abject conjecture,” according to the judge handling the case.

But Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen has ordered the Attorney General’s Office to investigate whether the information on the political affiliation of those who heard the information against him and the other 17 who were charged actually is available. Only then will he decide whether there’s any basis to even hear the bid for information by the former New York City mayor.

The defendants all are charged with various counts related to what the Attorney General’s Office says was a conspiracy to have Congress accept 11 Republicans pledged to Donald Trump accepted as the official electors for the 2020 election. That came even after the votes showed that he had been beaten by Democrat Joe Biden. All have pleaded not guilty, though former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis has entered a “cooperation agreement” with the state.

In the meantime, the remaining defendants are looking to poke holes in the case. That includes the complaint of bias by Giuliani.

He wants to know more about how the grand jurors were summoned, including whether it represents “a fair cross section of the community” as required by court rules.

More to the point, he wants to see the voter registration cards of the 16 grand jurors. That, said attorney Mark Williams, is needed to determine whether any of them were interested directly or indirectly in the case.

What it also will show, Williams told Cohen is “whether or not the jurors were biased or prejudiced in favor of the state (and) whether or not a juror should have been disqualified.”

Cohen, in a newly released order, did not appear to be impressed by Giuliani’s request.

“He claims that there is concern that the grand jurors that served on the grand jury that indicted defendant Giuliani were selected based on their political party affiliation,” the judge wrote. “Yet he alleges not one scintilla of information that would support his claim.”

Cohen also pointed out the state grand jury already was doing business before this case came up.

“This was not a special grand jury to address the charges brought against these various defendants,” the judge said.

“Rather, it was a sitting grand jury who was not selected for this case or any other specific case,” Cohen continued. “There is therefore no reliable information to suggest that the empaneling of this grand jury occurred in contemplation of this case or with a political agenda in mind.”

Still, the judge said he doesn’t want to delay the case any farther.

So he directed the Attorney General’s Office to get an affidavit from whoever summoned the grand jurors to determine whether political affiliation was known. And he directed the office to provide the court and all the parties by Oct. 16.

That may be an academic exercise: A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office told Capitol Media Services Wednesday that political affiliation is not gathered when a grand jury is empaneled.

All this stems from the 11 Trump supporters convening a month after the 2020 election at state GOP headquarters to sign a certificate claiming to the the state’s official electors. That document was sent to Congress and the National Archive.

The indictment names not just them but others allied with Trump, charging they helped to hatch and carry out the plot. They are accused of fraud, forgery and conspiracy.

Trump himself was not charged but listed as an “unindicted co-conspirator.”