Former President Donald Trump and his GOP allies in Arizona could face another criminal probe after reports emerged that he and his allies made contact with election supervisors in Maricopa County in the weeks following the November election in an effort to undo Trump’s loss in the state.
Now, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D) is calling on state Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) to launch an investigation into the matter.
Hobbs, in a request sent via email Wednesday and shared on Twitter, cited reporting by the Arizona Republic, which detailed attempts by the former president to contact Republican Maricopa Supervisor Clint Hickman on two separate occasions following the election.
According to the Republic, attempts to contact election supervisors were also made by Trump allies, including Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward, Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and lawyer Sidney Powell.
In her letter, Hobbs cites a report that Ward told the chairman of the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 7 as votes were still being tallied, “We need you to stop the counting,” and later reportedly told him, “I know you don’t want to be remembered as the guy who led the charge to certify a fraudulent election.”
The Arizona secretary of state urged Brnovich to “investigate and take appropriate enforcement action” against what she called “violations of Arizona’s election laws.”
She added that a person can be charged with a felony for “knowingly” interfering “in any manner with an officer of such election in the discharge of the officer’s duty,” or influencing an election officer “to violate or refuse to comply with the officer’s duty or any law regulating the election.”
Hobbs, who is currently running for governor of Arizona while Brnovich is running for Senate, went on to tell the state attorney general, “As you said just last week, ‘Fair elections are the cornerstone of our republic, and they start with rational laws that protect both the right to vote and the accuracy of the results.’”
Read the letter below:
Local reporting recently uncovered intense efforts to interfere with the tabulation of ballots and canvass of the 2020 election in Maricopa County. In Arizona, interfering with election officials is a felony. Today, I asked @GeneralBrnovich to investigate. pic.twitter.com/qSFytrrll7
— Secretary Katie Hobbs (@SecretaryHobbs) July 7, 2021
