A federal grand jury subpoenaed the Arizona legislature for records related to the state Senate’s widely criticized review of the 2020 election, the state Senate president said Monday, in what appears to be the latest part of the Trump administration’s efforts to spread false claims about the 2020 election and voting in the United States.
Warren Petersen, president of the Arizona state Senate, confirmed Monday that the legislature had received a subpoena related to records from its review of election results in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous. He added that “the FBI has the records.”
Peterson’s comment came after Donald Trump published an article by Trump-friendly outlet Just the News about the subpoena and said, “Great!!!”
It is not immediately clear what information was sought in the subpoena and what was provided. “Chairman Petersen has nothing to add outside of his X position at this time,” said Petersen spokesperson Kim Quintero.
The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.
Spokespeople for Maricopa County and the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, which administers elections, said they had not received a subpoena as of Monday morning.
The effort comes after the FBI raided the elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, in January as part of an investigation into the 2020 election results. Misleading claims about voting in the state were used to justify that search warrant affidavit. Kurt Olsen and Clay Parikh, who helped with Kari Lake’s efforts to overturn Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial race, helped the Trump administration with the Fulton County effort.
In 2021, Republicans controlling the Arizona State Senate used a private company, called Cyber Ninjas, to review the results of the 2020 election in Maricopa County. The review included a manual recount of the 2.1 million votes cast in the state, an examination of ballots and election equipment. Cyber Ninjas had no prior election experience and their methodology was widely criticized while the audit was being conducted. The effort received more than $5.7 million in outside funding, including support from prominent election deniers Patrick Byrne and Michael Flynn.
Ultimately, the review confirmed Joe Biden’s victory in Maricopa County and a hand recount actually found a net gain of votes for Biden. Cyber Ninjas still raise a number of allegations about suspicious activity in 2020 that the county and the attorney general’s office debunked.
Kris Mayes, a Democrat elected attorney general in 2022, said the 2020 election results in Arizona were “certified, litigated and affirmed.”
“Warren Petersen knows all of this. He has known it for years. He spread false stories of voter fraud in 2020, and remains an unrepentant election denier, using his platform as Senate President to legitimize conspiracy theories that Arizona’s own courts and law enforcement have thoroughly debunked,” he said in a statement.
“What the Trump administration appears to be pursuing now is not a legitimate law enforcement investigation. It is turning federal law enforcement into a weapon in the service of crackpots and lies,” he added.
