Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows pleads not guilty in Arizona's fake elector case

PHOENIX (AP) — Former Donald Trump presidential chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump 2020 Election Day operations director Michael Roman pleaded not guilty Friday in Phoenix to nine felony charges for their roles in an effort to overturn Trump's Arizona election loss to Joe Biden.

Meadows and Roman appeared by videoconference for separate brief hearings before Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Shellie Smith, who set an Oct. 31 trial date.

Meadows and Roman spoke during the hearings only to respond to Smith’s questions with their names and birthdates. Their attorneys spoke for them to enter their pleas of not guilty.

The indictment alleges Meadows worked with other Trump campaign members to submit names of fake electors from Arizona and other states to Congress in a bid to keep Trump in office despite his November 2020 defeat at the ballot box.

The document alleges 11 Arizona Republicans submitted paperwork falsely declaring that Trump won in Arizona. Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes. The indictment also says that Meadows confided to a White House staff member in early November 2020 that Trump had lost the election.

Roman is accused in the indictment of working closely with Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Boris Epshteyn and others to organize the fake electors’ votes in Arizona and six other states.

Outside court, Roman’s attorney, Kurt Altman, promised to fight the charges.

“Mike Roman has no connection with Arizona. Why this indictment came in the first place is beyond us,” Altman told reporters. “But we’re going to face the reality and defend.”

Attorney Anne Chapman represented Meadows remotely during the hearing. She did not immediately return a phone call and email from The Associated Press seeking comment on her client’s behalf.

Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, pleaded not guilty in May to nine felony charges stemming from his role in the fake electors effort. The Arizona indictment also includes felony charges against Trump attorneys John Eastman, Christina Bobb and Jenna Ellis.

Epshteyn, Ellis and James Lamon, another Republican who claimed Trump carried Arizona, are scheduled to enter pleas on June 18.

Meadows and Roman previously pleaded not guilty in Georgia state court to charges alleging that they participated in an illegal scheme to try to overturn the 2020 election results.

Roman was charged in Wisconsin on Tuesday with forgery for allegedly delivering that state’s fake elector paperwork to a Pennsylvania congressman’s staffer to get them to then-Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021, when Congress was certifying the results.

Other states where criminal charges have been filed related to the fake electors scheme are Michigan, Nevada and Georgia.

Trump 2020 Election Day operations director Michael Roman appears via video during his arraignment in Maricopa County Superior Court, Friday, June 7, 2024, in Phoenix. Roman pleaded not guilty Friday to nine felony charges for his role in an effort to overturn Trump's Arizona election loss to Joe Biden. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP)

Trump 2020 Election Day operations director Michael Roman appears via video during his arraignment in Maricopa County Superior Court, Friday, June 7, 2024, in Phoenix. Roman pleaded not guilty Friday to nine felony charges for his role in an effort to overturn Trump's Arizona election loss to Joe Biden. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP)

Arizona Attorney General Criminal Division Chief Nick Klingerman, left, speaks during the video arraignment Mark Meadows, top right on monitor, former Chief of Staff to President Donald Trump, Friday, June 7, 2024, in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix. Meadows pleaded not guilty Friday to nine felony charges for his role in an effort to overturn Trump's Arizona election loss to Joe Biden. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP)

Mark Meadows, former Chief of Staff to President Donald Trump, appears via video during his arraignment in Maricopa County Superior Court, Friday, June 7, 2024, in Phoenix. Meadows pleaded not guilty Friday to nine felony charges for his role in an effort to overturn Trump's Arizona election loss to Joe Biden. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP)

Mark Meadows, top center, former Chief of Staff to President Donald Trump, and his attorney, Anne Chapman, bottom center, appear via video during his arraignment in Maricopa County Superior Court, Friday, June 7, 2024, in Phoenix. Meadows pleaded not guilty Friday to nine felony charges for his role in an effort to overturn Trump's Arizona election loss to Joe Biden. (Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic via AP)

FILE - White House former chief of staff Mark Meadows speaks with reporters at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in Washington. Meadows appeared by videoconference, Friday, June 7, 2024, in Phoenix, pleading not guilty to nine felony charges stemming from their roles in an effort to overturn Trump's election loss in Arizona to Joe Biden. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

TOKYO (AP) — Sony’s profit surged 69% in July-September from a year earlier on the back of strong sales of its image sensors, games, music and network services, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company reported Friday.

Tokyo-based Sony Corp.’s quarterly profit totaled 338.5 billion yen ($2.2 billion), up from 200 billion yen in the same period of the previous year.

Consolidated quarterly sales edged up 3% year-on-year to 2.9 trillion yen ($19 billion).

Sony’s results were boosted by healthy demand around the world for image sensors used in mobile products.

Sales also held up in its video games division. During the latest quarter, 3.8 million PlayStation 5 game consoles were sold globally, although that’s below the 4.9 million units sold the same period a year ago.

Demand remained strong for PS5 game software, according to Sony.

The top-selling music releases from Sony for the quarter included “SOS” by SZA, David Gillmore’s “Luck and Strange” and Kenshi Yonezu’s “Lost Corner.”

One area where Sony’s business suffered was its movies division, which was hurt by production delays caused by the strikes in Hollywood.

Among the recent hit films from Sony was “It Ends With Us,” a romantic drama based on a novel.

Sony, which also makes digital cameras and TVs, stuck to its forecast for a 980 billion yen ($6.4 billion) profit for the fiscal year through March 2025, up 1% from the previous fiscal year.

Yuri Kageyama is on X: https://x.com/yurikageyama

FILE - A logo of Sony is seen at the headquarters of Sony Corp. on May 10, 2022, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)