Arizona state Senate President Warren Petersen has complied with a federal grand jury subpoena for records related to the 2020 election audit in Maricopa County, delivering them to the FBI. The action follows similar investigations in other states and comes amid ongoing scrutiny of the county's election processes. Maricopa County officials state they have not received a subpoena but would cooperate if one arrives.
Warren Petersen, Arizona's state Senate president and a Republican, announced on Monday via X that he had complied with a federal grand jury subpoena received late last week. The subpoena sought records pertaining to the Arizona State Senate's 2020 audit of Maricopa County elections. "Late last week I received and complied with a federal grand jury subpoena for records relating to the Arizona State Senate's 2020 audit of Maricopa County," Petersen wrote. "The FBI has the records."
This development aligns with reports from sources familiar with the probe, indicating that FBI agents are acquiring gigabytes of election data from Maricopa County through the subpoena process. The investigation expands on a late January FBI seizure of 2020 election materials from Georgia's Fulton County, part of a broader 2020 election interference inquiry.
Maricopa County, which encompasses Phoenix and played a key role in Arizona's 2020 presidential outcome, has been central to election disputes. President Donald Trump lost the county and state to Joe Biden in 2020, prompting baseless fraud claims. In 2021, the Republican-led state Senate commissioned a review by a Florida-based cybersecurity firm lacking prior election experience. Experts discredited the review as shoddy and partisan, though it ultimately confirmed Trump's loss by a margin within a few hundred votes.
A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Jason Berry, told KJZZ that the county has not received a subpoena. "Maricopa County runs elections in accordance with the law. We have not received a subpoena at this time but will cooperate if that were to occur," Berry said. The county confirmed that 2020 ballots were destroyed per state statute. The Maricopa County recorder's office also reported no subpoena and deferred questions to Petersen.
Trump reacted positively to news of the data acquisition, posting "Great!!" on Truth Social on Monday. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, expressed little surprise at potential federal scrutiny in January, attributing election tensions to Trump's claims. The FBI has not commented on the matter.
This probe occurs ahead of the 2026 midterms, with Trump advocating for measures like the SAVE America Act, which requires voter ID verification and has passed the House but stalled in the Senate.
