Arizona 2020 election audit records subpoenaed as part of criminal investigation

PHOENIX — A federal grand jury subpoena released Friday shows the FBI requested all records and electronic media from the controversial 2021 Cyber Ninjas audit of Arizona’s 2020 presidential election as part of a criminal investigation.

The subpoena stated that it was “issued pursuant to a criminal investigation being conducted by the federal grand jury.”

It was issued March 6 by U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine and served on Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, demanding production of materials by March 17 as part of the criminal probe.

It sought five categories of records related to the Republican-authorized audit that affirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the state’s largest county.

They included all electronic storage devices containing images or clones of Maricopa County’s election systems, forensic reports produced by Cyber Ninjas and its subcontractors, documentation of forensic procedures and tools used and communications between the Arizona Senate and Maricopa County officials.

Petersen, a Republican seeking his party’s nomination for attorney general, confirmed on March 9 that he had complied with the subpoena.

President Trump is 100% correct.

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. Any other report is fake news.@realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/C2T202VgZP

— Warren Petersen (@votewarren) March 9, 2026

Subpoena part of broader Trump election push

The subpoena marks the latest development in President Donald Trump’s ongoing effort to relitigate his 2020 loss to Biden. Federal authorities have also seized election records from Georgia’s Fulton County and the Justice Department has sued multiple states, including Arizona, seeking detailed voter data.

The Cyber Ninjas audit, conducted over six months in 2021, examined approximately 2.1 million paper ballots and found Biden received 360 more votes than the certified results showed. The firm acknowledged “no substantial differences” between its hand count and the official tally.

The audit was widely criticized by election experts for examining outlandish conspiracy theories, including checking ballots for bamboo fibers to determine if they were secretly shipped from Asia.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, called the federal investigation “the weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies.”

She noted a 2022 investigation by her Republican predecessor spent 10,000 hours examining fraud claims and found no evidence of widespread fraud.

In addition, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said his office is exploring legal options to protect voter information that may be contained in the audit records.

Unlike the Georgia case, where the FBI obtained a search warrant requiring probable cause, federal authorities in Arizona used a grand jury subpoena, which does not require judicial approval.

The Department of Homeland Security is also investigating Arizona’s 2020 election, according to Mayes’ office.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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