On April 7 2026, Arizona State Senate President Warren Petersen sent a letter to Timothy Courchaine, U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona (under the U.S. Department of Justice), stating that recent actions taken by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes "may constitute obstruction of justice and witness tampering," and that "This pattern of conduct suggests an inappropriate attempt to interfere with the grand jury's ongoing investigation."
The investigation Petersen refers to was initiated last month on March 6 when a grand jury subpoena was issued by the FBI seeking all records related to Arizona's Maricopa County 2020 election audit.
Note that Timothy Courchaine was appointed by former Attorney General Pam Bondi to serve as United States Attorney for the District of Arizona on February 28, 2025.
On April 6 2026, the day before Petersen's letter, Petersen received a letter from the law firm Snell & Wilmer. Here's some of what that letter states:
The Attorney General and Secretary's contrary position is unsupported by law and, if acted upon, could itself constitute obstruction of justice or witness tampering. A closer analysis reveals the authorities they rely on do not excuse a person's obligation to respond to a grand jury subpoena or otherwise mitigate the serious consequences of noncompliance.
The Attorney General and Secretary's March letters [see below] are not merely inappropriate—they are legally reckless. Their professed concern for Arizonans' privacy rings hollow when measured against their willingness to misstate the law to advance a political agenda, and to threaten public officials with criminal prosecution for complying with a valid federal court process.
On March 31, 2026, Senior Litigation Counsel Karen J. Harman-Tellez sent a letter from the office of Kris Mayes to the Arizona State Senate Rules Attorney asking whether Maricopa County voter registration records were among the records the
Senate provided in response to the federal subpoena. The letter states:
Specifically, the Secretary would like to know whether you provided to the FBI Maricopa County voter registration records that included information for (1) participants in the State's Address Confidentiality Program, see A.R.S. § 41-161 et seq., (2) other "eligible persons" who have obtained a court order protecting their records from public inspection, A.R.S. § 16-153, and (3) the voter registration information that is not generally available for public inspection except for specified purposes, see A.R.S. § 16-168(F).
On March 9, 2026, Kris Mayes sent a letter to all Arizona county recorders reiterating the Secretary of State's position that disclosure of a county's full, unredacted voter files to the U.S. DOJ would violate both federal and state law. That letter was also signed by Adrian Fontes.
Source:
Knutson, Jacob. (December 9, 2026). "FBI conducting probe of 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona". Democracy Docket. Retrieved 2026-04-23.
(March 31, 2026). "Letter from the office of Kris Mayes to the Arizona State Senate Rules Attorney Regarding Maricopa County Voter Registration Materials". Office of Kris Mayes. Retrieved 2026-04-23.
Attorney General Kris Mayes responded to Petersen's letter with the following statement (bold added for emphasis):
Despite multiple court challenges, investigations and audits that all showed the 2020 election in Arizona was conducted fairly, transparently and securely, Warren Petersen inexplicably remains an election denier six years later.
After wasting taxpayer dollars on the laughable Cyber Ninja's audit, Petersen again wasted Arizona's taxpayer dollar on a legal opinion that painstakingly tries to justify his failure to uphold Arizona's constitutional right to protect its voters' privacy. This is yet another example of Petersen desperately seeking favor from a president who cannot accept that he lost his re-election in 2020 fair and square. Arizonans will not be fooled.
Unable to win in court in their efforts to seize the private data of Arizona voters, the Trump administration is attempting an end run around the rulings against them in these cases by weaponizing the federal grand jury process. It won't work.
But make no mistake — this is not about 2020. This is about laying the groundwork to deny the results of the 2026 election if they don't go their way. No matter what Warren Petersen or the Trump administration have to say, I took an oath to uphold our Constitution and defend our elections and I will not be deterred from doing so.
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes responded to Petersen's letter with the following statement:
"While Arizona State Senator Petersen continues to prioritize Donald Trump's wishes over the safety and security of Arizona's voters, I can confidently affirm that these methods of intimidation will not stop our work.
My main concern for ensuring privacy of personal information in voter registration data, as required by law, remains.
Our Office asked for reassurance that Arizona voters' Drivers Licenses and Tribal ID information were not exposed, but in communication with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office (MCAO), it is still unclear what personal identifying data was made available to the Arizona State Senate and subsequently the federal government.
While we have been assured that voter registration information for individuals protected by court order or the address confidentiality program was not turned over to the Arizona State Senate during the audit in early 2021, the state Senate and the federal government continue to sidestep direct questions regarding which voter information may have been made available illegally.
Political threats are not going to deter me from working to protect Arizona's voters."
Commentary:
In Petersen's post on X announcing his letter to Courchaine he states "It is disturbing to see their [Mayes and Fontes] resistance to an election integrity investigation."
Petersen has it backwards. What's disturbing is that election deniers like Petersen continue to push election conspiracies which have been thoroughly debunked.
There is no need for any "election integrity investigation" into the 2020 Maricopa County election audit.
The results of the 2020 Maricopa County election audit showed that Biden had 360 more votes than the official, final count.
An article published September 24, 2021 on The Hill entitled "Five takeaways from Arizona's audit results" summarized the audit by saying:
- Maricopa's count was correct
- The count raises more questions about Cyber Ninjas than Maricopa
- The report is full of made-for-TV misleading numbers
- Cyber Ninjas undercuts some of the most egregious conspiracy theories
- The report won't mollify election deniers
Source:
Wilson, Reid. (September 24, 2021). "Five takeaways from Arizona's audit results". The Hill. Retrieved 2026-04-23.
Fontes hit the nail on the head in the title of his statement when he referred to Petersen's letter as "Ongoing Political Theater." This isn't about election integrity, it's about keeping the 2020 "stolen election" narrative in the news cycle, it's about sewing more seeds of mistrust into our election system, and it's about keeping election deniers politically engaged and riled up so they get out and vote in the upcoming 2026 mid-term elections.
It's also, as Mayes noted, about laying the groundwork to potentially deny the results of this year's mid-term elections.
On a higher level, it's about showing Donald Trump that you still support his completely bogus and B.S. beliefs that the 2020 election was "rigged."
The federal grand jury subpoena is a farce.
In a recent video Marc Elias talked about why a judge might sign off on a subpoena for something that has already been "litigated" and put to bed. Elias said that judges sometimes get so used to signing off on warrants and other court requests that they don't take time to dig into the details to see if the request has merit.
Putting aside the fact that this entire exercise by the federal government and Petersen is nothing more than political theater, it's clear that Mayes and Fontes disagree with the analysis of Snell & Wilmer regarding the legality of supplying confidential voter information to the federal government. Read the letters sent by Mayes and Snell & Wilmer for more in-depth analysis.
Finally, note that of the 30 lawsuits filed by different U.S. states who refuse to supply their voter rolls to the federal government, all five of the five that have been heard before a judge have been dismissed.