Maricopa County administrator in rejecting calls from Trump allies: ‘Whatever needs to be said, needs to be said in a court’

[ad_1]

The calls made by individuals at Trump’s White House to Clint Hickman, former chairman of Maricopa County’s Board of Supervisors, appear to be part of a pressure campaign led by then -Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward to convince members of the elected board overseeing county elections to declare that there were voting irregularities in their county, while election -related litigation continued in the state, according to records published last week by The Arizona Republic.

“I got a phone call from the White House switchboard, and I’m going to say this: All these people who called me, it’s not boring. We’re in litigation at all these points. … Whatever needs to be said. , must be told in a court before a judge or a jury, “Hickman told CNN’s Michael Smerconish on” Cuomo Prime Time, “referring to a number of election -related lawsuits pending at the time of the calls. White House.

The former official also told Smerconish that he warned the Trump campaign against calling him because of the pending lawsuit, saying: “I said, ‘You just did me a favor. I can’t talk to anyone while it’s lit. . ” ”

Hickman told the Republic that he allowed the calls to be voice mail, whereupon the White House switchboard operator asked him to call the President again. He did not return calls, he told The Republic.

Along with Trump, Giuliani – who in November met with GOP state lawmakers in Arizona – also tried to contact Maricopa County supervisors, according to The Republic, and Republican Bill Gates, who confirmed the call. of Christmas Eve on CNN’s Kyung Lah in June.

Hickman, Gates and other Republican board members confirmed the election results and continued to say the election was fair. Despite members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors standing by the integrity of the province’s election results, which found that President Joe Biden brought the province more than 2 percentage points, GOP state senators asked Arizona conducted an audit of the 2020 election ballots in Maricopa County in April.

CNN’s Rachel Janfaza contributed to this report.

[ad_2]