Arizona’s top elections official has called for a criminal investigation into what she described as former President Donald Trump’s “intense efforts to interfere” with the counting of ballots in last year’s presidential election. In a letter posted to Twitter, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs urged the state attorney general to probe reports that Trump and his allies—Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Kelli Ward—attempted to meddle with ballot counting. Hobbs cited reporting by the Arizona Republic that revealed Ward, chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, told the chairman of the board of supervisors: “We need you to stop the counting.” Hobbs wrote on Twitter: “Local reporting recently uncovered intense efforts to interfere with the tabulation of ballots and canvass of the 2020 election in Maricopa County. In Arizona, interfering with election officials is a felony. Today, I asked @GeneralBrnovich to investigate.” According to the Arizona Republic, Brnovich has not yet commented on the request.
