(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Special counsel sends Trump subpoena to Ga. secretary of state Raffensperger [1]

['Amy Gardner']

Date: 2022-12-12

Gift Article Share

Special counsel Jack Smith has sent grand jury subpoenas to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and to authorities in Clark County, Nev., bringing to six the number of 2020 battleground states where state or local election officials are known to have received such requests for any and all communications with Trump, his campaign, and a long list of aides and allies.

State and local officials in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have received similar subpoenas — all of them, like Georgia and Nevada, central to President Donald Trump’s failed plan to stay in power after the 2020 election.

In a phone call on Jan. 2, 2021, President Donald Trump insisted he won the state and threatened vague legal consequences. Here are excerpts from the call. (Video: Obtained by The Washington Post)

The requests for records arrived in Milwaukee and Dane County, Wis.; Maricopa County, Ariz.; and Wayne County, Mich., over the first few days of December. Since then, the secretaries of state in Arizona and Michigan have received similar requests, as has Allegheny County, Pa., home to Pittsburgh. Officials in Philadelphia and with the Pennsylvania Department of State declined to comment. The Associated Press first reported the Allegheny subpoena.

Advertisement

Together, they are among the first known subpoenas issued since Smith was named last month by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee Trump-related aspects of the investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, as well as the criminal probe of Trump’s possible mishandling of classified documents at his Florida home and private club.

“I can confirm that my office was served a subpoena in connection with the special counsel’s investigation this morning,” said Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) last week. “The Department of Justice has asked that we not disclose the contents of the subpoena to prevent harming the investigation, and we will honor that request.”

Authorities in Nevada’s Clark County — home to Las Vegas — on Monday acknowledged receiving a subpoena dated Nov. 22 that was addressed to the “Custodian of Records” in the county’s elections division.

Advertisement

Raffensperger (R) shot to prominence following a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call with Trump in which the president urged him to “find” enough votes to reverse his defeat in Georgia.

A spokeswoman for Raffensperger declined to comment on the subpoena, which was obtained by The Washington Post.

The Georgia subpoena, which is dated Dec. 9, adds to the evidence that the Justice Department is extending its examination of the circumstances leading up to the Capitol attack to include local and state election officials and their potential interactions with the former president and his representatives related to the 2020 election.

The virtually identical requests seek communications with Trump, in addition to employees, agents and attorneys for his campaign.

The Department of Justice’s long-running Jan. 6 investigation has moved beyond the large pool of people who directly took part in the bloody riot at the U.S. Capitol to focus on other aspects of the attempts to overturn the election results. Prosecutors are examining the fundraising, organizing and rhetoric that preceded the riot, and looking at failed efforts to authorize alternate slates of electors. They secured subpoenas this spring and summer for communications between Trump’s inner circle and scores of campaign officials, potential electors and others.

Advertisement

After Trump declared last month that he would again seek the White House in 2024, Garland appointed Smith, a longtime federal prosecutor who once headed the Justice Department’s public corruption section, to oversee the elements of the Jan. 6 investigation potentially related to the former president.

On Nov. 18, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to oversee probes related to former president Donald Trump. (Video: The Washington Post)

Smith also is overseeing the Mar-a-Lago criminal investigation, which began this spring, after months of disagreement between Trump and the National Archives and Records Administration over boxes of documents that followed the former president from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence and private club.

Previous subpoenas, in Arizona and other battleground states targeted by Trump, have been issued to key Republican players seen as allies in his pressure campaign to reverse the results of the 2020 election. Maricopa County, the sprawling Arizona jurisdiction that is home to Phoenix and more than half the state’s voters, was among several localities on the receiving end of that pressure.

Advertisement

The requested communications include those with Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, and other advisers, such as Boris Epshteyn. Attorneys identified include Trump campaign lawyers Justin Clark and Matthew Morgan, as well as those serving in other capacities, such as John Eastman, Rudolph Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Cleta Mitchell.

The subpoenas, while sent out by Smith, were also signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Burke.

Yvonne Wingett Sanchez in Phoenix contributed to this report.

GiftOutline Gift Article

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/12/special-counsel-sends-trump-subpoena-ga-secretary-state-raffensperger/

Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/