Special counsel investigating Trump sends subpoena to Valley elections officials

PHOENIX — A federal investigator wants know what Donald Trump and his surrogates said to Maricopa County elections officials before and after he was voted out of office in 2020.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that local officials in the battleground states of Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin received subpoenas recently as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden. The Associated Press reported that Pennsylvania also was included.

They are the first known subpoenas from Smith, who was named special counsel last month by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“Maricopa County has received a subpoena from the Department of Justice special counsel and will comply,” Fields Moseley, communications director for Arizona’s largest county, told KTAR News 92.3 FM when asked about the newspaper’s report.

In addition to Maricopa County, subpoenas were sent to Milwaukee and Dane counties in Wisconsin, Wayne County in Michigan and Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County.

The Arizona version was addressed to Maricopa County Elections Department, according to the Post story.

The special counsel’s requests were “virtually identical,” the Post reported, and seek documentation about communications with Trump and anybody connected to his campaign from June 1, 2020, to Jan. 20, 2021.

Maricopa County, which includes the Phoenix area and more than 60% of Arizona voters, had been a centerpiece of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election and cast doubt on the results.

Trump allies tried to pressure Republicans on the county board of supervisors not to certify his loss in 2020, and when they did so, continued trying to reach them as Congress prepared to tally the electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021. Clint Hickman, then the chairman of the board, dodged calls from the White House operator, who left voicemails saying the president was trying to reach him.

Smith is overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation into the presence of classified documents at Trump’s Florida estate as well as key aspects of a separate probe involving the violent storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump’s efforts to remain in power.

The subpoenas are the clearest indication yet that Smith’s work will include an examination of the fake electors that were part of Trump’s efforts to subvert the election count and certification.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow @KTAR923