Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs asked Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Wednesday to open a criminal investigation of possible efforts by former President Donald Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Arizona GOP chairwoman Kelli Ward, and others to lean on Maricopa County supervisors after Trump lost Arizona in the Nov. 3 election, The Arizona Republic reports. Some of the calls and text messages, uncovered by the Republic last week, "involve clear efforts to induce supervisors to refuse to comply with their duties," which would violate Arizona law, she wrote.
According to calls published by the Republic, Trump tried to contact GOP county supervisor Clint Hickman twice after the election, on New Year's Eve and again on Jan. 3, after The Washington Post posted a recording of Trump asking Georgia's Republican secretary of state to find just enough votes for Trump to win the state. Hickman let the calls go to voicemail because of ongoing litigation. Giuliani left voicemails, published by the Republic, and Ward sent text messages, urging the supervisors "to stop the counting" due to debunked fraud allegations; after that was unsuccessful, Ward said the supervisors were "unAmerican" and playing for the "WRONG team," the Republic reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political cartoons for December 13Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include saving healthcare, the affordability crisis, and more
-
Farage’s £9m windfall: will it smooth his path to power?In Depth The record donation has come amidst rumours of collaboration with the Conservatives and allegations of racism in Farage's school days
-
The issue dividing Israel: ultra-Orthodox draft dodgersIn the Spotlight A new bill has solidified the community’s ‘draft evasion’ stance, with this issue becoming the country’s ‘greatest internal security threat’
-
Senate votes down ACA subsidies, GOP alternativeSpeed Read The Senate rejected the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, guaranteeing a steep rise in health care costs for millions of Americans
-
Abrego García freed from jail on judge’s orderSpeed Read The wrongfully deported man has been released from an ICE detention center
-
Indiana Senate rejects Trump’s gerrymander pushSpeed Read The proposed gerrymander would have likely flipped the state’s two Democratic-held US House seats
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
