The Associated Press (AP) admitted Friday that this week’s indictment of 18 Arizona Republicans is “part of a campaign” to “deter” Republicans from raising challenges and concerns about the integrity of the 2024 election.

Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes indicted 18 individuals, 11 of whom she claims acted illegally when they convened as alternate electors to certify the Arizona election in favor of Donald Trump while challenges to the tight election’s initial results were ongoing.

Under the headline “Charges against Trump’s 2020 ‘fake electors’ are expected to deter a repeat this year,” AP’s Nicholas Riccardi wrote the indictment of 18 people “could help shape the landscape of challenges to the 2024 election.”

“The indictment issued Wednesday is part of a campaign to deter a repeat of 2020, when Trump and his Republican allies falsely claimed he won swing states, filed dozens of lawsuits unsuccessfully challenging Democrat Joe Biden’s victory and tried to get Congress to let Trump stay in power,” Riccardi wrote.

The outlet cited Center for Election Innovation & Research founder David Becker — whose organization helped dump hundreds of millions of dollars in “Zuckbucks” into local election offices to influence election administration — to emphasize the “deterrent effect.”

“People are going to have to think twice about doing things to undermine the election,” Becker told the AP. “The deterrent effect is real.”

Riccardi also quoted Justin Levitt, a veteran of the left-wing Brennan Center who was tapped as a senior adviser for “democracy and

The lawfare crusade against former President Donald Trump has taken center stage in the U.S. Supreme Court and in New York state court this week. The first criminal trial against President Trump is now underway in New York City, while the U.S. Supreme Court also held oral arguments on whether President Trump is immune from prosecution in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s criminal case stemming from the 2020 election. 

As these legal crusades proceed against President Trump, the Democratic Attorney General of Arizona has now targeted Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, and 16 others with indictments related to the 2020 election. The indictments were announced on Thursday, April 25. 

Here’s the latest information you need to know about each case.

Read our previous installments here.

Manhattan, New York: Prosecution by DA Alvin Bragg for NDA Payment

How we got here: In this New York state criminal case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg — who The New York Times acknowledged had “campaigned as the best candidate to go after the former president” — charged former President Donald Trump in April 2023 with 34 felony charges for alleged falsification of business records. Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen paid pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election as part of a nondisclosure agreement in which she agreed not to publicize her claims that she had an affair with Trump (who denies the allegations). Nondisclosure agreements are not illegal, but Bragg claims Trump concealed the payment to help his 2016

Florida and Oklahoma have instructed their schools to reject implementation of new Title IX rules proposed by the Biden administration that allow males “identifying” as females to invade women’s spaces.

“We are not going to let Joe Biden try to inject men into women’s activities,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a Thursday video statement. “We will not comply.”

As my colleague Jordan Boyd previously reported, the new guidelines released by the Education Department last week “effectively erase protections for sex-based spaces by expanding the Title IX prohibition against sex discrimination to include ‘gender identity’ — a term that’s never mentioned in the original law.” This means that men proclaiming to be women will be permitted to use female-only spaces such as locker rooms and sororities and participate in female-only sports leagues.

The rules — which are set to take effect on Aug. 1 — also repeal existing free speech protections, parental rights, and safeguards for individuals accused of sexual assault.

[READ: Biden’s Title IX Rule Guarantees Discrimination, Censorship, And The End Of Parents’ Rights]

DeSantis’ comments came a day after Florida Commissioner on Education Manny Diaz Jr. penned a letter stating that “no educational institution [in the state] should begin implementing any changes” to Title IX put forward by the Biden administration. Diaz argued that the federal government’s reimagining of the law is an “attempt to gaslight the country into believing that biological sex no longer has any meaning.”

“As legal challenges unfold, and the