PRESCOTT, AZ – NOVEMBER 07: Arizona Republican party chairwoman Kelli Ward speaks during a get out the vote campaign rally on November 07, 2022 in Prescott, Arizona. On November 14, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the January 6th committee could get access to Ward’s phone records. (Photo by Justin Sullivan || Getty Images)
ADAM RAWNSLEY AND ASAWIN SUEBSAENG
Rolling Stone
Arizona’s criminal probe into the 2020 fake electors plot is heating up and investigators are now asking plenty of questions about a key Donald Trump ally involved in it: former state GOP chair Kelli Ward.
The Arizona probe has been accelerating in the past several weeks, two sources familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone, with prosecutors gathering evidence and speaking with individuals with knowledge of how the fake electors scheme was carried out in the state. The fake electors plot was a core component of the then-president and his aligned lawyers’ plans to overturn his 2020 election defeat and stop the legitimate transfer of power to his Democratic successor Joe Biden.
The sources add that Ward — once one of the state’s most prominent Republicans — and her potential contacts and private activities following Election Day 2020 have been of particular interest to investigators as of late. One of these sources describes Arizona investigators as “moving aggressively” on this stage of the inquiry into the state’s pro-Trump fake electors, which included Ward, a Trump hardliner and then-chair of the Arizona Republican Party.
Ward did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ward, her husband, Michael, and nine other Arizona Republicans signed a document falsely attesting that they were the state’s legitimate electors casting Arizona’s Electoral College votes for Trump.
According to the January 6 Committee report, Ward was “unusually active” in her advocacy for President Trump after the election. She spoke with the former president and participated in a Trump-backed pressure campaign to get the state to stop counting votes and delay certification of the tally showing Biden’s victory.
After Arizona certified its vote tally, Ward, her husband Michael, and 9 other Republicans in the state convened to falsely represent themselves as Arizona’s legitimate slate of electors during a signing ceremony recorded and shared on social media.
