Officials in seven states have now received subpoenas from the special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee investigations into former President Donald Trump.
The latest subpoena to be disclosed publicly was sent to local officials in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, according to a report published Wednesday evening.
“Yes, we received a subpoena from the Department of Justice’s special counsel regarding the 2020 election. We have nothing further to share or provide,” a county spokesperson told CNN.
Garland named Jack Smith, a veteran war crimes prosecutor, as special counsel last month after Trump announced a 2024 campaign for the presidency. Smith was tasked with taking over investigations into Trump’s handling of government documents after leaving office and circumstances leading up to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
The subpoenas reported in recent weeks appear to be part of the latter inquiry. They have also been sent to officials in Arizona, Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan, and Wisconsin — all states where Trump and his allies sought to challenge the results of the 2020 election.
Trump has broadly denied any wrongdoing, and responded to Garland’s appointment of Smith as special prosecutor by telling Fox News he “won’t partake” in the inquiry and lamented what he described as the “worst politicization of justice in our country.”
Smith has been moving at a brisk pace, despite recovering in Europe after suffering a biking accident. His team, which is nearly twice the size of special counsel Robert Mueller’s operation, have brought Trump associates before a grand jury in Washington, and asked a federal judge to hold Trump in contempt of court for allegedly failing to comply with a subpoena issued over the summer, CNN previously reported. The judge declined to do so.
Earlier this week, it was reported that Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was one of the officials who received a subpoena. Raffensperger is the official Trump pressed to “find” 11,780 votes, enough to reverse his election loss in Georgia, as heard in audio of that conversation leaked to the media shortly afterward.
Trump is also facing an election-related investigation in Georgia led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.