Two Trump-supporting Republicans currently serving in the U.S. House have been subpoenaed amid a criminal investigation by state authorities in Arizona into Trump-aligned targeting of the state’s presidential election results from 2020, POLITICO reported. A focus for the probe is the slate of sham electoral votes produced by Trump allies in the state.
Those subpoenaed include GOP Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs, both representing Arizona districts and both known for their past support of pro-Trump ambitions against the results of the 2020 presidential race following its conclusion. The reported subpoenas do not specifically mean that prosecutors will seek charges against either Gosar or Biggs, though charges against some target — potentially the sham electors themselves, for instance — remain a possibility.
POLITICO also indicated that next steps following the subpoenas — like, for instance, state prosecutors potentially going to court to try securing their enforcement against the Congressmen — were unclear. Notably though, one of the sources for the outlet’s report was a letter from Gosar notifying Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) of the demands for testimony. In theory, the two subpoenaed Republicans could provide an insider perspective on strategizing inside Trump’s circles after the last presidential election, helping illustrate intentions or plans by those involved.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was eventually compelled (with some restrictions on questions) to appear for his own questioning in a criminal investigation that covered that state’s fake electors by Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, so there’s a precedent for action like these subpoenas producing actual testimony to some extent. Graham was not charged, though Willis ended up charging individuals involved directly in the assemblage of fake electoral votes for Trump contravening Biden’s win, a group including Shawn Still, a Republican in Georgia’s state Senate. Also among those charged was even a former chairman of Georgia’s state GOP, David Shafer.
