An Arizona grand jury wanted to charge Trump over fake electors. Prosecutors used PowerPoint to dissuade them

An Arizona grand jury that voted to indict 18 Republicans for their attempts to reverse Donald Trump’s election loss in the state also wanted to see criminal charges against the former president himself, according to new court filings.

Documents from Arizona’s attorney general’s office have offered a glimpse for the first time into a grand jury’s deliberations surrounding the state’s election interference case that led to criminal charges against more than a dozen Trump officials and his Republican allies.

It is unclear how many grand jurors wanted to see criminal charges against Trump, who by then was already charged in a federal election conspiracy case from special counsel Jack Smith.

But it was revealed that prosecutors, working under Democratic attorney general Kris Mayes, gave grand jurors a PowerPoint presentation to outline a Department of Justice policy about overlapping state and federal charges.

The prosecutors ultimately “requested” that grand jurors not indict Trump or several state lawmakers, according to a motion filed in Phoenix on Tuesday.

“I have not recommended that in the draft indictment, despite clear indications from you all that there’s an interest in pursuing a charge against him,” a prosecutor told the jurors, according to filings.

“I know that may be disappointing to some of you,” the prosecutor added.

The investigation into a Republican-backed plan to subvert Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Arizona, and deliver the state’s 11 electoral college votes to Trump instead, has resulted in criminal charges against more than a dozen top Trump advisers, Trump attorneys and sitting elected officials in Arizona.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorneys Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman were