State Watch

Trump special counsel has subpoenaed officials in these 7 battleground states

Special counsel Jack Smith has issued a round of subpoenas targeting election officials in seven battleground states that were key to former President Trump and his allies after the 2020 election.

Smith, who was appointed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) last month to investigate allegations that Trump sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election, sent his latest batch of subpoenas to state and local elections officials in Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

The news came just days after it was previously reported that Smith subpoenaed elections officials in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Here’s what we know about the states in the subpoenas.

Georgia

Smith issued Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) a subpoena on Friday.

In early 2021, Trump called Raffensperger and asked him to “find” 11,780 votes in Georgia, a request that he ultimately rejected.

The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit against Raffensperger and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) challenging the 2020 election, which failed in court.

Also subpoenaed by Smith in Georgia were election officials in Cobb County, located in the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Arizona

A subpoena was sent to a county clerk in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, asking for any communication between the Trump campaign and election officials through January 2021.

Trump filed at least eight lawsuits in Arizona challenging the election results, all of which were dismissed.

Maricopa County conducted an outside audit of the 2020 election, which ultimately did not find widespread fraud.

Nevada

Smith also sent subpoenas to elections officials in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.

Clark County was at the center of Trump’s criticism in Nevada when he claimed that dead voters had submitted ballots in the 2020 election, prompting a denial from local election officials in the county.

Trump filed a lawsuit in Nevada seeking to challenge the “illegal” votes, which failed in court.

Michigan

A subpoena was also sent to a county clerk in Wayne County, Mich., asking for any communication between the Trump campaign and elections officials.

The Trump campaign unsuccessfully sought to block certification of votes tallied in Wayne County, the state’s largest and most Democratic county.

Wisconsin

Similarly to Arizona and Michigan, the subpoena asks the county clerk in Dane County to provide communications between the Trump campaign and election officials.

Dane County conduced a recount in November 2020 but did not deliver enough votes to sway the state in favor of Trump.

Lawsuits filed in Wisconsin by the Trump campaign also failed.

New Mexico

In late November, Smith subpoenaed Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver (D).

Trump filed a lawsuit against New Mexico and Oliver in December 2020, claiming the state created an unconstitutional election by allowing the use of absentee ballot drop boxes without supervision.

The Trump campaign eventually withdrew the lawsuit.

Pennsylvania

Election officials in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh, were also subpoenaed.

Allegheny County was key to President Biden’s victory in the state, which he won with 59 percent of the vote.

The Trump campaign filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania raising concerns about mail-in voters, but a judge dismissed it.