Trump Reportedly Pressured Former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey To Overturn Results of 2020 Election

Former President Donald Trump reportedly tried to convince former Gov. Doug Ducey (R) to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state of Arizona.

Trump only lost Arizona by fewer than 13,000 votes to President Joe Biden. Trump and his allies have been pushing conspiracy theories about election fraud across the country since 2020, but investigators are now taking a closer look at the GOP’s role in advancing false claims.

Trump allegedly told former Vice President Mike Pence to pressure Ducey into reporting fraudulent votes in the state, however, Pence did not follow through on these orders. During a campaign stop in Iowa on Tuesday, Pence denied that Trump ever asked him to engage in a pressure campaign.

“I didn’t receive any pressure from President Trump other than to gather an update on what was happening in [Georgia and Arizona],” he said.

A spokesperson for Ducey shut down any rumors suggesting that Ducey considered carrying out Trump’s wishes.

“Gov. Ducey defended the results of Arizona’s 2020 election, he certified the election, and he made it clear that the certification provided a trigger for credible complaints backed by evidence to be brought forward. None were ever brought forward,” he said.

In response to accusations about him, Trump’s campaign put out a statement defending the former president.

“The 2020 presidential election was rigged and stolen,” it read. “These witch-hunts are designed to interfere and meddle in the 2024 election in an attempt to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House to make this country great again.”

Special Counsel Jack Smith has been conducting the probe into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. In recent weeks, Smith and his team have been looking at whether Trump and his supporters really believed that the election was stolen, or if they knew that Trump had lost but were still pushing fraudulent claims.