Feds subpoena Arizona Senate for debunked 2020 audit records
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The Arizona Senate's review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in May 2021. Photo: Jeremy Duda/Axios
A federal grand jury subpoenaed records from the Arizona Senate's debunked "audit" of the 2020 election in Maricopa County amid fears that the Trump administration will attempt to assert control over this year's midterms.
Why it matters: The audit, largely funded by groups loyal to President Trump and supportive of his false claims that he won Arizona in 2020, reached erroneous and inaccurate conclusions about the vote in Maricopa County.
State of play: Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) wrote on X Monday morning that the Senate last week received and complied with a federal subpoena for audit records, which the FBI now has.
- Maricopa County hasn't received any federal subpoenas for election information, spokesperson Jason Berry told Axios.
Between the lines: Per state law, paper ballots are destroyed two years after the canvass for any election for a federal office in Arizona.
- Yes, but: The audit team made digital images of all ballots cast in Maricopa County in 2020, former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, who was involved with the effort, told Axios.
The intrigue: The Arizona subpoena comes less than two months after the FBI raided an election office in Atlanta and seized related records as part of a criminal investigation into the 2020 vote.
- Arizona and Georgia, which former President Biden won in 2020, were both the focus of false and unsubstantiated claims by Trump and many of his supporters that the election was rigged.
- Trump on Monday posted an article on Truth Social claiming that Maricopa County election records were "secretly seized" by the FBI in an expansion of its criminal probe into "suspected election irregularities," calling it, "Great!!!"
Threat level: Some Democrats, including Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, have expressed concern that Trump might try to interfere with the 2026 elections.
- Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, whom Petersen is hoping to unseat in November, said the subpoena was "not a legitimate law enforcement inquiry" but instead "the weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies."
Catch up quick: Then-Senate President Karen Fann ordered the audit in response to widespread falsehoods and conspiracy theories about Trump's Arizona loss in 2020.
- After months of work, including a hand recount of all ballots, the audit team affirmed Biden's win in Maricopa County, but issued a final report filled with false conclusions and baseless allegations.
- Maricopa County found that 74 of the audit's 75 findings were exaggerated, misleading or simply false.
- The Arizona AG's Office found that nearly all of the audit's findings were unfounded.
Editor's note: This is a developing story. Check for updates.