The House select committee has been investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to pressure individual states to declare him the winner of the 2020 election.
Lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection have obtained thousands of records from state officials — including forged certificates declaring him the winner in both Arizona and Michigan — and interviewed numerous witnesses, including the Democratic secretaries of state in each of those states, reported Politico.
“They mostly discussed election administration in Arizona, the 2020 elections, threats/harassment directed toward the office, and the Cyber Ninja’s partisan ballot review,” said a spokesperson for Arizona secretary of state Katie Hobbs.
Arizona took legal action against one of the pro-Trump “sovereign citizen” group, whose leader met with Rudy Giuliani in December 2020, by sending a cease-and-desist letter ordering them to stop using the state seal and referred the matter to the state attorney general.
“By affixing the state seal to documents containing false and misleading information about the results of Arizona’s November 3, 2020 General Election, you undermine the confidence in our democratic institutions,” Hobbs wrote to one of the pro-Trump groups.
The committee has also obtained emails, texts and phone recordings that include a text message from then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger.
“Mr Secretary. Mark Meadows here,” reads the Nov. 19, 2020, message. “If you could give me a brief call at your convenience. Thank you.”
The committee also received a Dec. 22, 2020, email from Raffensperger aide Jordan Fuchs to Meadows asking the White House official to “clarify a few items” about absentee ballots, along with emails between Sen. Lindsey Graham’s and Raffensperger’s offices showing how the GOP senator came to call the secretary of state about two weeks after the 2020 election.
“Hope you are doing well,” said a Graham staffer on Nov. 12, 2020. “Senator Graham has requested a call w/ Sec. Raffensperger at his earliest convenience.”