A Democratic attorney general is again targeting Republicans regarding the 2020 election in a probe that smacks of political retribution.
In May, Arizona AG Kris Mayes assigned several prosecutors to the case, which appears to have honed in on 22 Republicans who signed and transmitted official documents “claiming to be the state’s chosen electors for Trump in the electoral college,” The Washington Post reported.
One set of the documents was signed by Republican activists but a second set was signed by Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward and other “high-profile Republicans,” the report noted.
According to the report, investigators have already reached out to numerous individuals and their legal representatives who are believed to have signed the documents. At present, former President Donald Trump does not seem to be the primary focus of the criminal investigation. However, that status may change if new evidence surfaces in the case.
Similarly, a separate criminal investigation in Michigan is underway, examining alleged efforts by Republicans within the state to invalidate the election results by that state’s Democratic attorney general.
Currently, the former President is facing indictments in two separate cases. One is from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which is widely viewed by many as weak and politically motivated. The other indictment comes from special counsel Jack Smith, and experts consider it to be significantly more serious in nature.
In addition to these charges, Trump is also facing a criminal indictment in Georgia regarding his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Furthermore, he is the subject of a second federal criminal investigation led by Jack Smith, focused on the same matter of election interference.
The Washington Post reported at the beginning of July that Trump may have tried to pressure then-Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, a Republican, “to overturn the state’s presidential election results, saying that if enough fraudulent votes could be found it would overcome Trump’s narrow loss in Arizona.”
The report said that Trump persistently urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to reach out to Ducey and pressure him into uncovering evidence that would substantiate Trump’s allegations.
“I don’t remember any pressure,” Pence told CBS News earlier this month, noting further that he kept in touch with governors across the country whose states “were going through the legal process of reviewing their election results.”
