{"id":586768,"date":"2021-07-09T09:35:40","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T13:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=586768"},"modified":"2021-07-09T10:17:35","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T14:17:35","slug":"arizona-secretary-of-state-seeks-probe-of-trump-giuliani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizona-secretary-of-state-seeks-probe-of-trump-giuliani\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Secretary of State Seeks Probe of Trump, Giuliani"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Farizona-secretary-of-state-seeks-probe-of-trump-giuliani%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=586768&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-arizona\">Arizona<\/a>\u2019s secretary of state wants the state\u2019s attorney general to investigate whether former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a> and several allies broke the law when they tried pressuring Maricopa County officials to intervene in election certification and counting efforts in late 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Phone calls and texts from Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward may have violated state law that makes it a felony to knowingly interfere in any manner with an election officer, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, told Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecretaryHobbs\/status\/1412909800099176448\/photo\/1\">in a letter this week<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The law also says people commit a felony when they try inducing an election officer \u201cto violate or refuse to comply with the officer\u2019s duty or any law regulating the election.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hobbs pointed out how Ward told Maricopa County Supervisor Clint Hickman, a Republican who was chair of the Board of Supervisors at the time, to \u201cstop the counting,\u201d according to documents and audio from the county obtained by the Arizona Republic. She said that was a clear effort to induce supervisors to comply with their election-related duties, which include overseeing the counting of ballots.<\/p>\n<p>Hobbs said she has also obtained the records and will provide them to Brnovich to aid in an investigation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have received the Secretary of State\u2019s letter and have no further comment at this time,\u201d Katie Conner, a spokeswoman for Brnovich\u2019s office, told The Epoch Times in an email.<\/p>\n<p>The Arizona Republican Party, Giuliani, and Trump\u2019s office did not return requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Hickman declined an interview request through a spokesperson, who confirmed that Giuliani and Ward contacted him in the wake of the election. The White House operator also left a voicemail with Hickman, asking that he respond to speak with Trump.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3624805\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/The-Maricopa-County-Board-of-Supervisors-1200x900-1.jpeg\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-3624805\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/The-Maricopa-County-Board-of-Supervisors-1200x900-1.jpeg\" alt=\"The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors are seen during a meeting in Phoenix, Ariz., on Oct. 23, 2019. (Jonathan J. Cooper\/AP Photo)<\/figure>\n<p>Supervisors Steve Chucri and Bill Gates, both Republicans, did not respond to requests for comment. They were also contacted by Ward and Giuliani.<\/p>\n<p>Hickman told the Republic that he did not want to speak to Trump because he thought the former president would try pressuring him to change the election results. He was worried communicating with Trump, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/trump-campaign-responds-to-audio-recording-of-call-between-president-and-georgia-secretary-of-state_3642537.html\">called<\/a> Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/washington-post-blames-source-for-falsified-trump-comments_3734128.html\">late last year<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/official-in-georgia-sos-office-was-sole-source-on-trump-phone-call_3735315.html\">to ask him<\/a> to probe alleged election fraud, would be improper.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t want to walk into that space,\u201d Hickman said.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m not going to tape a president, so I\u2019m not going to talk to a president \u2026 I didn\u2019t want to have a very rough call to my home on a Sunday night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got a phone call from the White House switchboard, and I have to say it: All of these people that called me, it wasn\u2019t stonewalling. We were in litigation at all these points. \u2026 Whatever needed to be said, needed to be said in a courtroom in front of a judge or a jury,\u201d he added during an appearance on CNN\u2019s \u201cCuomo Prime Time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hickman said he conveyed to Trump\u2019s campaign that Trump shouldn\u2019t get in touch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said, \u2018Just do me a favor. I can\u2019t talk to anyone while this is being litigated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Maricopa County faced multiple lawsuits after the election. The county battled with the Arizona Senate in court for months before a judge ruled the county needed to comply with subpoenas that ordered officials to turn over election materials such as ballots.<\/p>\n<p>Auditors hired by the Senate have been conducting an audit of the materials for months. They\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/arizona-election-audit-moves-out-of-coliseum-ballots-held-in-new-building-under-24-7-security-official_3882743.html\">nearing completion<\/a> of the effort and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/maricopa-county-audit-report-expected-in-august_3864225.html\">expect to issue a report<\/a> on what they found in August.<\/p>\n<p>The county Board of Supervisors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/maricopa-county-calls-for-end-of-2020-election-audit_3819948.html\">does not support the audit<\/a> and asserts the election was well-run, referencing a post-election hand count of a sampling of ballots and a risk-limiting audit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arizona\u2019s secretary of state wants the state\u2019s attorney general to investigate whether former President Donald Trump and several allies broke the law when they tried pressuring Maricopa County officials to &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2314321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/The-Maricopa-County-Board-of-Supervisors-1200x900-1.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Arizona Secretary of State Seeks Probe of Trump, Giuliani","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-586768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/The-Maricopa-County-Board-of-Supervisors-1200x900-1.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Arizona Secretary of State Seeks Probe of Trump, Giuliani","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2314321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}