Washington— The Arizona Secretary of State’s office received and complied with a subpoena from Office of Special Counsel Jack Smith related to the federal investigation into efforts to nullify the 2020 presidential election, spokesman Paul Smith-Leonard confirmed to CBS News.
The subpoena sought documents related to a pair of election-related lawsuits filed in 2020 by the Trump campaign and the former Arizona Republican leader, Kelli district. Contact between Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ office and Smith’s team began in May, and an outside attorney hired by the office — Coppersmith Brockelman — responded to the grand jury’s request, Smith-Leonard said.
The Arizona Republic first reported the existence of the subpoena.
The 2020 Battleground State has become a focal point of former President Donald Trump and his supporters’ attempts to reverse the results of the presidential election.
Prosecutors in Smith’s office continue to review a alleged false voter system in which the former president’s supporters worked to uncertify Electoral College votes, which were won by President Biden, through an alternative group of swing state officials pledging support for Trump.
As part of the federal investigation, Georgian Secretary of State – Brad Raffenspereger – spoke to investigators last month and representatives from Nevada appeared before a grand jury in Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, the former Arizona Republican speaker of the House rusty arbors — who testified publicly before the House committee on Jan. 6 last year about his resistance to pressure from Trump and his allies to overturn the election results — told CNN he recently spoke with Smith’s investigators.
The subpoena from the Arizona secretary of state was the second the office has received in recent months as part of the federal investigation, according to a person familiar with the matter. The first request came last year, under the administration of the former Arizona secretary of state, and was handled by the same outside law firm that handled much of the office’s responses to questions related to 2020.
Smith’s office declined to comment.
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