Battleground state leaves experts aghast as it 'hands over keys to election' to Trump

The internet reacted Monday after reports that President Donald Trump has set his eyes on Arizona's largest county in hopes to — again — try and litigate the 2020 presidential election and increase the federal government's influence over elections.

The Trump administration subpoenaed records from Maricopa County, Arizona, on Monday, Politico reported. In January, the Trump administration raided election offices in Fulton County, Georgia, seizing 2020 ballots.

The 79-year-old president has long maintained the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was "rigged" against him despite no evidence of fraud. In 2023, he was indicted in Fulton County for his attempts at reversing his loss in Georgia.

Republican and Arizona Senate President Warren Peterson wrote on X that he agreed with Trump, confirming the state would follow the federal demands.

"President Trump is 100% correct," Peterson wrote. "Late last week I received and complied with a federal grand jury subpoena for records relating to the Arizona State Senate’s 2020 audit of Maricopa County. The FBI has the records. Any other report is fake news."

On social media, people responded to Trump's latest attempt to revive his 2020 election claims.

"Then there were 2 (with Fulton County): Arizona Republican Just hands over keys to election. He posts that he 'received and complied with a federal grand jury subpoena for records relating to the Arizona State Senate’s 2020 audit of Maricopa County. The FBI has the records.' Uggh," Harry Litman, professor and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice, wrote on Bluesky.

"Good Lord. You lost man, move on," author and historian Cal Schoonover wrote on Bluesky.

"To be clear: In 2021, the AZ Senate hired a now-defunct company, Cyber Ninjas, to lead 'recount/audit' into Maricopa's 2020 results -- the Cyber Ninjas found that, in fact, Joe Biden had won the county, per their hand count, by 360 more votes than originally believed," Vaughn Hillyard, MS NOW senior White House reporter, wrote on X.

"The subpoena of the audit records comes at a time that the Trump administration is seeking to rehash the 2020 election. Biden's narrow win in Arizona, which was reaffirmed by the GOP-led audit, was a major focus of Trump's," Eliza Collins, Wall Street Journal politics reporter, wrote on X.