Arizona’s election interference probe is gaining momentum as investigators quiz state Republicans about a “pressure campaign,” mounted by Donald Trump’s allies, to choose a slate of fake electors, according to a new report.
Investigators for Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) are asking Phoenix area Republicans and former House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) about Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s demands to look into voter fraud that never existed, sources told the Washington Post.
“The new line of questioning marks the first time local prosecutors have shown interest in examining the pressure campaign,” writes Yvonne Wingett Sanchez.
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“Those familiar with the witness interviews say and could signal that Mayes might expand the scope of the investigation.”
Until now, investigators focused solely on 11 state Republicans who pretended to be legitimate electors in a bid to reinstate Trump in office, regardless of whether he had won the vote, the report notes.
Now they’re asking Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, who certified Phoenix’s 2020 presidential election results, about Trump’s allies’ efforts to halt vote-counting and then delay certification of the election results.
Investigators are also showing special interest in Kelli Ward, the former chair of the Arizona Republican Party who was in contact with Trump and tried to help him win the state, as detailed in the Jan. 6 committee report.
The report notes on Ward’s first messages to One of her first messages to Maricopa Board of Supervisors Clint Hickman was, “We need you to stop the counting.”
One source told the Post, “They were trying to find out how much anyone was trying to influence” or “intimidate” the supervisors.
Investigators also asked Bowers about contact with Giuiliani, whose pressure campaign the former speaker details in the Jan. 6 committee report.
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Bowers asked for proof to Giuliani’s claim that non-citizens and dead people had voted in Arizona, and when none came, refused to hold a public hearing to replace Biden’s electors with Trump’s, the report states.
“You are asking me to do something against my oath,” Bowers says he told Giuliani.
According to the Jan. 6 report, Giuliani replied, “Aren’t we all Republicans here?”
What Mayes’ office will do with this new testimony remains unclear, but one certainty is that the revved-up investigation is welcome news to Arizona leaders who’ve been waiting for it for three years, the Washington Post reports.
Said one source, “We’re bordering on a cold case here.”
A Mayes spokesperson and Alexander Kolodin, an attorney representing certain Trump electors, both decline to comment to the Washington Post. Ward did not respond to their request for comment.
