The Trump administration issued a grand jury subpoena for election records from Arizona’s largest county last week, part of an accelerating effort to prove President Donald Trump’s long-debunked assertions that the 2020 presidential race was rigged against him.
Arizona state Senate President Warren Petersen confirmed that the chamber, which carried out a partisan audit of the state’s results in Maricopa County shortly after the 2020 election was called for Joe Biden, received the audit and had turned over its records to the FBI.
“Late last week I received and complied with a federal grand jury subpoena for records relating to the Arizona State Senate’s 2020 audit of Maricopa County. The FBI has the records,” Warren posted on X. “Any other report is fake news.”
In a post on Truth Social Monday, Trump responded to a news report about the subpoena, writing: “Great!!!”
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This development comes after the FBI raided a Fulton County, Georgia, government building last month to seize election records. In 2020, Trump requested a separate recount in Georgia, where Biden’s victory was also upheld.
Much like Georgia, Arizona has been a central part of Republican claims of fraud in the 2020 election.
However, in 2021, a GOP-backed audit found Biden did win Maricopa County — by 360 votes more than the initial count.
The recent investigations into these counties’ voting data come at a time when Trump has also suggested the Republican Party should nationalize elections.
“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” Trump said on a podcast last month. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many — 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
It remains unclear how Trump would accomplish a federal takeover of election duties. The Constitution explicitly says states are in charge of election administration.
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