Special counsel Jack Smith sent grand jury subpoenas to local officials in Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin; three states that were central to President Trump’s failed plan to stay in power after the 2020 election. Investigators are looking for any and all communications with Trump, his campaign, and a long list of aides and allies, reports the Washington Post. The requests for records arrived in Dane County, Wi.; Maricopa County, Az.; and Wayne County, Mi., late last week, and in Milwaukee on Monday. They are among the first known subpoenas issued since Smith was named 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. The subpoenas indicate that DOJ is extending its examination of the circumstances leading up to the Capitol attack to include local election officials and any interactions with Trump and his representatives related to the election. The virtually identical requests to Arizona and Wisconsin seek communications with Trump, in addition to employees, agents and attorneys for his campaign.. “I’m happy to participate in this process,” said George Christenson, the Milwaukee County clerk.
Christenson said he was not aware of any communications between his office and the Trump campaign that have not already been made public. He speculated that investigators are hunting for new details about the campaign’s efforts to convene illegitimate, pro-Trump electors in key battleground states that Joe Biden narrowly won. Dane County, Wi., Clerk Scott McDonell, whose county encompasses Madison, the state capital, released a similar subpoena and said he, too, believed that all significant communications had already been made public. Officials in Wayne County, home of Detroit, confirmed the subpoena. The department’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 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.