Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is requesting former special counsel Jack Smith’s findings in his probe of Donald Trump’s alleged election subversion plot, a week before the president-elect gains the power to shut down the report.
In a Sunday letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Mayes requested the full case, including Smith’s findings against alleged conspirators, in order to assist with her office’s efforts to prosecute Trump allies who allegedly facilitated a plot to overturn Arizona’s election results in 2020. Mayes also requested exculpatory evidence, as requested by defendant and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
A ruling from Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon blocking the Department of Justice from spreading the report beyond its offices was overturned on Thursday by a federal appeals court. Garland has yet to announce the full report’s release as Trump wages war in court to keep the findings under wraps.
But Mayes argues that federal law gives the DOJ “the authority to disclose grand jury information for use in Arizona’s criminal case” despite pending legal challenges. Her letter sets a deadline of Tuesday afternoon for a DOJ response to the request, just under a week before Trump's inauguration.
Mayes’ office’s investigation stems from a plot to send a slate of fake electors to Congress and has so far yielded more than a dozen indictments, including ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and one conviction. Mayes says the Smith report will allow her office to continue its work.
“Today, my office has one of the only remaining cases that includes charges against national actors. I have held steadfast to prosecuting the grand jury’s indictment because those who tried to subvert democracy in 2020 must be held accountable,” Mayes wrote to Garland. “Undoubtedly, disclosing Special Counsel’s file to my office will help ensure that those who should be held accountable are.”
Though federal cases, including those that stemmed from Smith’s investigation, can be largely stopped by Trump, his reach into state cases is limited. Mayes has vowed to continue to prosecute the state’s 2020 election cases, one of the few remaining jurisdictions to do so with Nevada and Georgia cases facing legal setbacks.
“A grand jury in the state of Arizona decided that these individuals who engaged in an attempt to overthrow our democracy in 2020 should be held accountable, so we won’t be cowed, we won’t be intimidated,” Mayes told MSNBC in November after Trump’s win.
With 18 initial grand jury indictments against attorneys aligned with the Trump campaign and state Republican leaders who allegedly signed on as fake electors, Mayes’ case is one of the most effective state-wide investigations into the 2020 fight. Loraine Pellegrino, a fake elector, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in August.
Additionally, Trump ally Jenna Ellis, a former attorney for his campaign, agreed to cooperate with Arizona prosecutors last year. Trump himself was named an unindicted co-conspirator in that case, though grand jurors reportedly expressed interest in indicting him when presented with evidence.
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