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Nevilledog

(51,283 posts) Tue Dec 6, 2022, 01:56 PM Dec 2022

Justice Dept. subpoenas Ariz., Mich., Wis. officials for Trump communications

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/06/jack-smith-trump-communications-subpoenas/

No paywall
https://archive.ph/OTiyq

Special counsel Jack Smith has subpoenaed local officials in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin — three states that were central to former president Donald Trump’s failed plan to stay in power following the 2020 election — for any and all communications with Trump, his campaign and a long list of aides and allies.

The requests for records arrived in Dane County, Wis.; Maricopa County, Ariz.; and Wayne County, Mich., late last week, and in Milwaukee on Monday, officials said. They are among the first known subpoenas issued by Smith, who was named last month by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee the Jan. 6 Capitol attack case as well as the criminal probe of Trump’s possible mishandling of classified documents at his Florida home.

The subpoenas, at least three of which are dated Nov. 22, show that Smith is extending the Justice Department’s examination of the circumstances leading up to the Capitol attack to include local election officials and their potential interactions with the former president and his representatives. The virtually identical requests to Arizona and Wisconsin name Trump individually, in addition to employees, agents and attorneys for his campaign. Details of the Michigan subpoena, confirmed by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, were not immediately available.

“I’m happy to participate in this process,” said George Christenson, the Milwaukee clerk, who confirmed the subpoena in a telephone interview Tuesday and provided a copy to The Washington Post.

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