The Trump administration has expanded its investigation into the 2020 presidential election by obtaining records from Maricopa County, Arizona. This follows a federal grand jury subpoena for digital data related to a partisan audit of the county's vote, which was received by Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen. This action is the latest step in the administration's efforts to reinvestigate the 2020 election, despite repeated confirmations of the accuracy of Maricopa County's results through post-election hand-counts and multiple independent audits. This move mirrors an earlier FBI action in Fulton County, Georgia, another swing state that voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and has been a target of Donald Trump's claims of a stolen election.
The materials obtained by the FBI from Maricopa County are different from those in Fulton County. In Fulton, agents secured actual ballots, which had been stored securely. In contrast, Maricopa County had destroyed its original ballots after two years, as required by state law. The subpoenaed digital data from Maricopa County pertains to a partisan audit conducted by the Cyber Ninjas firm, which was funded by and took direction from Trump allies. This material, which may include scans and photos of ballots, has been stored by the Arizona Senate. Election experts have warned that any investigation based on this Cyber Ninja data would be fundamentally flawed due to the firm's documented failures to follow proper procedures and its leader's private admission that its ballot recounts were "screwy." Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, expressed doubts that a court would accept these records as evidence.
The Cyber Ninjas audit, which began in April 2021, drew intense criticism from the outset for its methodology and partisanship. The firm made errors recounting votes, with multiple tally sheets often showing different totals, and observers raised concerns about potential tampering due to the presence of pens during ballot photography. Data from ballot tabulators was sent to a Montana cabin for analysis without clear protection from hacking. Although the Cyber Ninjas' review ultimately concluded that Biden won, acknowledging "no substantial differences" between its hand count and the official count, the Trump administration continues to push for further investigation. Notably, the FBI obtained records in Arizona through subpoenas, which do not require judicial sign-off or probable cause, unlike the judicially-approved search warrant used in Georgia.
Several officials have voiced strong concerns about the ongoing investigation. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who was Secretary of State during the 2021 audit, stated that confidence in any outcome derived from the turned-over records would be misplaced due to their questionable quality. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, also a Democrat, issued a scathing statement, calling the current pursuit "not a legitimate law enforcement inquiry" but rather "the weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies." Even Ken Bennett, a Republican liaison to the audit and former Arizona Secretary of State, believes the county's original election results were correct. The White House has tasked Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who tried to overturn Trump's loss, with helping to lead this criminal inquiry, further fueling concerns about the partisan nature of the investigation.
