Christina Bobb, the 2020 election-denying former San Diegan, has drawn up an audacious Plan B if she can’t win pending efforts to avoid prison for her alleged role in the Arizona fake-electors case.
Christina Bobb notice of possible motion to disqualify Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. (PDF)Her Tucson attorney, Thomas Jacobs, will try — if need be — to disqualify Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, and her office from prosecuting Bobb on conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges.
On June 4, Jacobs notified Superior Court Judge Sam Myers of his waiting-in-the-wings action.
Bobb also wants to expel Mayes donor States United Democracy Center from the case, which Jacobs says “created the blueprint for this prosecution.”
Bobb wants no action taken — “nor that the court require the state to file a response” — until a stay of Superior Court proceedings “is either modified or lifted to allow the clerk of the Superior Court such authority,” Jacobs says in his motion.
Three weeks ago, Bobb and 15 remaining co-defendants in the criminal case won a reprieve when Maricopa County Judge Myers ordered the 14-month-old case returned to a grand jury — to determine whether probable cause exists that the defendants committed the crimes alleged.
Former Donald Trump attorney Bobb — once an OAN anchor and a San Diego State MBA — also is hoping a court might kill the case under Arizona’s anti-SLAPP law meant to protect free speech. (The state opposes that motion to dismiss.)
Giving Mayes the boot wouldn’t be easy.
It requires Bobb meet the so-called Gomez factors — persuading the judge that Mayes brought charges to harass Bobb, that Bobb would be damaged in some way if the motion to dismiss wasn’t granted, that alternative solutions exist to handle Bobb’s supposed wrongdoing and “whether the possibility of public suspicion will outweigh any benefits that might accrue due” to Mayes being involved.
Bobb’s arguments to oust Mayes?
In a 16-page motion, Jacobs contends that Arizona’s top law officer is doing the bidding of States United, a liberal group that Mayes has a reputed attorney-client relationship with.
He says States United — allegedly connected to the Democratic Attorneys General Association, or DAGA — gave Mayes $200,000 after her election and “initiated and planned the strategy for the [Bobb] prosecution,” Jacobs writes.
He says States United claims on its website to be “an initiative of the Progressive State Leadership Committee” — which “has the exact same address, president, executive director and nearly identical leadership team as … DAGA, which is a committee of the Democratic Party.”
Citing public records, Jacobs says DAGA sent $50,000 to Mayes’ legal fund Sept. 5, 2023, “long after Kris Mayes’ campaign was over and just a couple months after the Attorney General’s Office signed a contract giving prosecutorial influence to States United,” the motion says. “The payment was also very close in time to the opening of this grand jury investigation.”
DAGA made a second payment of $150,000 to the Mayes legal fund on July 3, 2024, over 18 months after her campaign ended and roughly a month after “Bobb and her co-defendants were all arrested, arraigned and publicly humiliated,” the motion says.
And this despite DAGA making only $25,000 in donations to the Arizona Democratic Party in 2022, Jacobs said.
The result, he said, is “significant appearance of impropriety.”
“At best, Kris Mayes, her office and States United have glaring political conflicts of interest that they failed to voluntarily disclose, they tried to conceal from the defendants, and those conflicts cannot be remedied,” he said.
“At worst, the actions raise serious questions of criminal activity. Either way, Defendant Bobb’s fundamental rights to a fair and impartial process have been irredeemably violated. The only viable solution is to disqualify the Attorney General, States United and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.”
Along with the motion, Jacobs filed exhibits he says backs up his claims, including IRS nonprofit filings by States United and its May 2023 “retainer agreement” signed by Chief Deputy Attorney General Dan Barr.
“This letter explains and confirms the terms and conditions under which States United Democracy Center … will undertake to advise the Arizona Attorney General’s Office … in connection with developing legal strategies to ensure the integrity and security of elections,” says a States United email to Barr.
The legal group said it would do all work pro bono: “You will not make expenditures or incur indebtedness in connection with this representation and the services provided by States United.”
On July 25, 2023, States United sent Mayes’ office an “Arizona False Electors Scheme Memo,” with more than 40 pages marked “ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE / ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT” and including 135 words devoted to Bobb’s legal exposure.
Section on Christina Bobb in States United memo to Arizona attorney general.Those memos weren’t meant to be seen so soon in the case.
Jacobs told Times of San Diego that Mayes’ office in January accidentally disclosed its deal with States United.
“The memo was attached to a search warrant affidavit for the judge to read, but was not going to be disclosed to the defense until much later,” he said Monday via email.
(Last August, Jacobs found himself in hot water for violating a judge’s order by publicly filing a court document that included transcripts of grand jury proceedings and grand juror names — all meant to be kept secret. No sanctions were levied.)
Public records told Jacobs about the financial ties between States United and the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, he said.
Mayes’ spokesman Richie Taylor told me: “The Attorney General’s Office will have to decline to comment given the ongoing litigation.” States United also declined to respond.
Bobb lawyer Jacobs addressed my queries, however.
I asked: “Will any Bobb co-defendants file similar motions [to disqualify Mayes]? Or can they piggyback yours?”
Jacobs replied: “I do not know who, if anyone, may join the motion. However, parties are generally free to join such motions or file their own.”
I told Jacobs I had done a Google search of: “Do Republican state attorneys generals get legal help from conservative organizations?” And the result was: Yes, they do. “So should GOP attorneys general be removed from their own prosecutions on the same grounds as Mayes?”
Jacobs replied: “While it is true that conservative legal groups provide support and services for Republican AGs, that support appears to be in the nature of communication and legal staff support.
“In the case of States United/DAGA, it appears that they have basically paid to have the AZ AG prosecute a group of people who the predecessor AG would not pursue and referred to the US DOJ. The timing of the payments to Mayes suggests that they may have made payments contingent on the filing of the indictment.
“It is also possible that the payments were made for Mayes legal defense fund related to the lawsuit by her political campaign opponent. The appearance is that SU/DAGA was seeking to become a private AG by ‘buying’ the AZ AG to pursue a political agenda.”
(I later discovered a Republican counterpart to DAGA, known as RAGA, which boasts of electing and re-electing Republican attorneys general nationally “to promote and protect the Constitution, freedom and opportunity for future generations. … For over 25 years, Republican AGs have been freedom’s frontline – from successfully challenging Obama and Biden overreach to today helping President Donald J. Trump make America safe, free and great again.”
I also asked: “If you win your motion to remove Mayes and States United, who might take over the prosecution?”
Jacobs replied: “If the AG is DQ’d, they will not be able to transfer the case to someone else in the office, since the appearance of impropriety affects the whole office. Various AZ county attorneys would be eligible, regardless of political affiliation. However, none of them is likely to be enthusiastic about taking the case.”
His motion notes: “It is quite possible that another prosecutor looking at this case might choose to discontinue the prosecution as ethically or legally unsupportable and Ms. Bobb continues to be damaged by the continuation of this biased prosecution.”
How has the case harmed Bobb?
“Ms. Bobb has been and continues to be damaged by this unfair and unconstitutionalprosecution,” Jacobs told me. “She has been subject to significant media ridicule, damage to her reputation, her TSA pre-check has been revoked, and she now has a criminal record.
“Significantly, Ms. Mayes predecessor declined to prosecute the matter and referred it to the U.S. Department of Justice,” he repeated.
Arizona’s attorney general before Mayes was Republican Mark Brnovich — a 1991 graduate of the University of San Diego School of Law. He served from 2015 to 2023 and was termed out.
In late March, President Trump nominated Brnovich to be U.S. ambassador to Serbia. (He’s of Serbian descent.)
Brnovich awaits confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
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