Jack Smith subpoenas Arizona Secretary of State’s office in January 6 probe

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Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed Arizona’s Secretary of State’s Office as part of its investigation into the January 6 riot as early as May, The Arizona Republic reported.

President Joe Biden narrowly won the state in 2020 by 10,457 votes, the narrowest margin in the nation. Almost immediately, former president Donald Trump and his supporters began to contest the results.

Mr Smith’s office sought information on a lawsuit from Mr Trump’s campaign and former Arizona Republican Party chairwoman Kelli Ward, which alleged that fraud and errors affected the result of the 2020 presidential election.

Mr Trump’s lawyers in Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v Hobbs argued that many of Mr Trump’s voters had their ballots tossed because they overvoted or voted twice in a race with only one choice, which a Maricopa County Superior Court judge dismissed. The judge said that not enough ballots existed to change the election results.

In Ward v Jackson, attorneys for Ms Ward argued that election workers in Maricopa County were not qualified to verify signatures on mail-in ballots. They also argued that poll observers were not present when damaged ballots were replicated. But the court found no evidence of fraud. The lawsuit was unsuccessfully appealed to the state supreme court and US Supreme Court.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’s office said Coppersmith Brockelman, the outside law firm representing the office, complied with the requests. At the time of the election, Democrat Katie Hobbs, now the state’s governor, served as Arizona’s Secretary of State.

But Mr Smith has not contacted former governor Doug Ducey, who ignored Mr Trump’s overtures to overturn the election results and certified them for Mr Biden. Mr Ducey silenced his phone when Mr Trump called him to try and prevent the certification after the election.

Mr Ducey’s spokesman did not reply directly to a question about whether the special counsel had contacted him.

“This is nothing more than a ‘copy and paste’ of a compilation of articles from the past two years,” Daniel Scarpinato, his spokesman, said. Frankly, nothing here is new nor is it news to anyone following this issue since 2020. Gov. Ducey defended the results of Arizona’s 2020 election, he certified the election, and he made it clear that the certification provided a trigger for credible complaints backed by evidence to be brought forward. None were ever brought forward.”

This past weekend, former vice president Mike Pence spoke on CBS News’s Face the Nation and pushed back on reports that he reportedly pressured Mr Ducey to overturn the results.