Photo by Gage Skidmore | Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
Attorney General Kris Mayes wants everything a federal special counsel has found out about the interference of Donald Trump and his allies in the peaceful transition of power after the 2020 election that he lost.
And the goal is to help her with her own case against those involved in a scheme to send a slate of fake electors from Arizona to Congress.
In a letter Monday, Mayes reminded U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland that she had sought access to the work of Jack Smith nearly two years ago. At that time, Mayes said, the special counsel “was not ready or able to share any materials.”
Since that time, Smith has folded his investigation after concluding that the decision by voters to return Trump to the White House makes any move to prosecute him impossible because of the Department of Justice policy that prohibits the federal prosecution of sitting presidents. Instead, Garland plans to release only Smith’s report – but not other materials he gathered.
That, Mayes wrote to Garland, changes everything.
A state grand jury last year indicted not only the fake electors who were claiming that Trump won the 2020 race in Arizona and was entitled to the state’s 11 electoral votes but seven others who were his lawyers and supporters. That includes attorney Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows who was Trump’s chief of staff.
And Trump himself was listed as an “unindicted co-conspirator.”
The case is set for trial a year from now. And Mayes thinks that what Smith uncovered will help, especially now that he isn’t pursuing his own case.
