The FBI Is Chasing Ghosts in Maricopa County

[Nevilledog]

https://thedispatch.com/article/maricopa-county-arizona-fbi-subpoena-2020-election/

No paywall link
https://archive.li/Inrmg

On Sunday night, Just The News reported that “the FBI is expanding its criminal probe into suspected election irregularities … agents are receiving gigabytes of electronic election data from Maricopa County.” Early the next morning, President Donald Trump shared the article on Truth Social and wrote: “Great!!!”

And that whacked the hornet’s nest. The New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, NPR, NBC, The Hill, MS NOW, and many local Arizona news outlets all had news stories up within a few hours.

The dust hasn’t fully settled, but it’s settled enough to make a few things clear: Yes, federal law enforcement did issue a subpoena for 2020 election data. But that subpoena wasn’t directed at Maricopa County election officials; it was issued to Arizona state Senate President Warren Petersen, who reported that he turned over the subpoenaed records. Petersen, a Republican, and the state Senate had possession of electronic data from Maricopa County’s November 2020 presidential election as a result of the monthslong review Petersen and then-Senate President Karen Fann commissioned in 2021.

We don’t yet know why federal law enforcement sought the election materials. There’s been no word on who the investigation targets or what statute may have been violated. Nor has any judge or grand jury made a determination as to the possibility or probability of such a criminal action; such a determination is not needed to issue a subpoena.

This makes the Maricopa County situation quite different from that of Fulton County, Georgia, where the FBI seized more than 600 boxes of 2020 election materials in January. In that instance, federal law enforcement identified two statutes (Title 52 of the U.S. Code Sections 20701 and 20511) that had possibly been violated, and a federal magistrate judge found that law enforcement had established probable cause to obtain a warrant to seize documents (I believe the underlying affidavit in that warrant application was highly problematic).

*snip*