Arizona Senate President Sends Mayes and Fontes to DOJ for Election Investigation Interference

Arizona State Senate President Warren Petersen sent Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to the Department of Justice for obstruction of justice and witness tampering in connection with their handling of a federal grand jury subpoena related to the 2020 election.

Petersen announced the referral Tuesday after receiving legal advice to comply with an FBI subpoena for records from the Senate Republicans review of the 2020 Maricopa County election. The controversial audit was prompted by President Donald Trumps claims that voter fraud led to his re-election loss. The review still found that Democrat Joe Biden won the race.

In a letter to U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine, Petersen said Mayes and Fontes made misleading statements about complying with the federal grand jury subpoena for records. He pointed to lawyers saying the Senate had to comply with the subpoena.

Petersen claimed the actions of Mayes and Fontes may qualify as obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

Mayes fired back in a written statement, saying Petersen inexplicably remains an election denier six years later. She pointed to the fact that Republicans at the county and state levels managed the 2020 election and all audits, recounts and reviews determined it was safe, secure and free of widespread fraud.

Mayes called the GOP-approved audit laughable and said Petersen is wasting taxpayer money on a legal opinion that painstakingly tries to justify his failure to uphold Arizonas constitutional right to protect its voters privacy.

She also claimed Petersen is working to lay the groundwork to deny the 2026 midterm election results if they do not go Trumps way.

Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said his office was working to identify legal options to secure personal voter information in the 2020 data that was shared. Fontes said while Arizona voters Driver Licenses and Tribal ID information were not exposed, it is still unclear what personal identifying data was made available to the Arizona State Senate and subsequently the federal government.

Fontes said political threats are not going to deter him from working to protect Arizonas voters.

Petersen is now running for attorney general to face Mayes in November. He helped oversee the Senate Republicans election review in 2020.

The referral follows a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into Maricopa County. Trump has claimed the election was stolen. Stephen Richer, former Maricopa County recorder, says the 2020 election survived countless reviews.

Trumps Department of Justice has sued Arizona and other states to obtain voter rolls, with the apparent goal of doing its own analysis of the rolls and removing voters.

Petersen said the threats of the attorney general and secretary of state are incompatible with the United States Constitution, which enshrines the grand jury in our constitutional order, and only serve to hinder voters confidence in our elections.