Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes told the U.S. Justice Department on Monday that she wants special counsel Jack Smith’s case file to support her prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump’s allies for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Ms. Mayes, in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, said that while Mr. Smith’s cases against Mr. Trump were dismissed and the special counsel resigned from his post, she is moving full-steam ahead with an election-subversion case against 18 defendants, including 11 so-called fake electors.
“Today, my office has one of the only remaining cases that includes charges against national actors,” Ms. Mayes, a Democrat, wrote. “I have held steadfast to prosecuting the grand jury’s indictment because those who tried to subvert democracy in 2020 must be held accountable.”
She said the information might even help the defendants.
“Undoubtedly, disclosing special counsel’s file to my office will help ensure that those who should be held accountable are,” she wrote. “But I am also Arizona’s chief law enforcement officer and a minister of justice. I must be sure the rights of the defendants are protected as well, and I would welcome any exculpatory material that the special counsel possesses.”
The letter served as a reminder that Arizona’s top cop is pursuing a 2020 election case against Mr. Trump’s allies even though other cases were spiked or melted away after Mr. Trump’s election win.
A grand jury in Maricopa County handed up an indictment in April containing conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges. Eleven people who allegedly posed as electors for Mr. Trump — instead of President Biden, who won the state in 2020 — were indicted alongside seven Trump aides, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, legal adviser Boris Epshteyn and lawyers such as former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.
The defendants pleaded not guilty.
Parallel to the probe, Mr. Trump was sentenced to no jail time or probation on his New York felony conviction for falsifying business records. The judge said an “unconditional discharge” was the best way to resolve the case given Mr. Trump’s status.
A Georgia case that somewhat mirrors the Arizona one is in limbo because Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was booted from the case because of her romantic relationship with an investigation that posed a potential conflict.
Mr. Smith, meanwhile, had a pair of cases against Mr. Trump dismissed because of a precedent barring the criminal prosecution of a sitting president. He resigned as special counsel from the Justice Department on Friday. He had already submitted his final report on the investigations, though a federal judge has blocked its release.
Ms. Mayes said orders restricting the release of the Smith report should not prohibit her from getting the underlying file.
“To be sure that my office has all incriminating and exculpatory evidence possessed by special counsel, I am requesting you disclose to my office special counsel’s entire file, including the final report in the election case to the extent allowable by law,” she wrote.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.