The 2020 Election remains fraught with controversy even four years later, as both Democrats and Republicans accuse each other of (attempting to) steal it. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has investigated an apparent plot by Republican electors to falsely claim former President Donald Trump won Arizona, recently subpoenaing Representatives Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) as part of her investigation.
The Arizona Republic detailed how eleven electors sought to certify Trump as the winner in Arizona during the 2020 Election despite Trump losing the state. CNN showed President Joe Biden winning the Grand Canyon State by the skin of his teeth with approximately 10,000 more votes than Trump.
In April 2022, the Republic also reported that Rep. Biggs was supposedly engaged in conversations via text with Trump's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows three days after the election, suggesting Meadows send alternate slates of electors in "states where there's been shenanigans," such as Arizona.
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"If I understand right most of those states have Republican Legislature's [sic]. It seems to be comport with glorified Bush as well as the Constitution. And, well [sic] highly controversial, it can't be much more controversial than the lunacy that were [sic] sitting [sic] out there now," Rep. Biggs supposedly texted Meadows, asking if any Governors and Legislatures would "be willing to do that."
He and Rep. Gosar were already challenging the certification of Biden on January 6th, 2021, before protesters entered the Capitol, and both met with Trump in December to discuss how Vice President Mike Pence could block the certification of the results.
However, there is no indication that Reps. Biggs and Gosar will receive charges in the investigation beyond the call to testify before a grand jury.
Two of the eleven alternate or "fake" electors, State Senator Anthony Kern (R) and Jake Hoffman (R), have both claimed AG Mayes' investigation is politically motivated, with Sen. Kern delivering a late March speech at the Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix saying he was a victim of "weaponization of our government" and that Mayes and Governor Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) "want to send [him] to jail."
Similarly, Rep. Hoffman refused to tell the Arizona Republic about Mayes' investigation, but "what I can tell you is that we have a wildly corrupt Department of Justice and now a corrupt attorney general who are weaponizing our justice system both nationally and now at the state level to persecute their political enemies, and it's reprehensible. It's immoral, it's evil."
