Rusty Bowers interviewed by FBI over Trump campaign’s efforts to overturn 2020 election
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Efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Arizona are under investigation by federal authorities.
Special counsel Jack Smith, who’s looking into the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election for the Justice Department, has subpoenaed the Arizona secretary of state’s office, as former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers said he was interviewed by the FBI.
Bowers told CNN Wednesday he was “hesitant to talk about any subpoenas et cetera. But I have been interviewed by the FBI.”
He said he told investigators what he’s already said before about being pressured by former President Donald Trump and his allies to not certify Arizona’s election results, which he refused to do.
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“I offered them nothing new. They seemed to have a good grasp on all of the testimony that I had given,” Bowers said. “They were very aware of the Jan. 6th committee testimony that I gave. There may have been something that I said that was of interest, but I don’t remember anything standing out that had not been mentioned before.”
Bowers said the interview lasted four hours, was “very professional” and was conducted about three months ago.
Arizona secretary of state office spokesperson Paul Smith-Leonard confirmed the agency had been subpoenaed by Smith as part of his investigation and said the agency was looking for documents related to two lawsuits that falsely claimed fraud in relation to the 2020 election results, according to NBC News. One suit was filed by Trump’s campaign and dismissed in 2020 and another was filed by Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward.
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Last year, Smith subpoenaed election officials in Arizona’s largest county, Maricopa County, which includes the cities of Phoenix and Mesa, as well as local election officials in three other swing states: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. According to a copy of a subpoena from Wisconsin obtained by NBC News, investigators were seeking communications with or involving Trump, his campaign and aides and allies who worked on efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The news about federal investigators questioning Arizona officials comes following a recent report that Trump allegedly pressured former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to look into unfounded claims of voter fraud after Trump lost the state in 2020 by about 10,000 votes.
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Arizona was one of five states Trump won in 2016 but lost in 2020 to President Joe Biden. Trump falsely claimed fraud was responsible for his loss, but both state-mandated and partisan audits in Maricopa County found no evidence of widespread fraud, and Republican officials like Ducey were among those who certified the state’s results.
Trump has been similarly accused of pressuring officials in Georgia, another swing state he won in 2016 but lost in 2020. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who’s investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn election results in Georgia, suggested earlier this year that any grand jury indictments in the case could come in August.
