Former President Donald Trump allegedly attempted to pressure then-Gov. Doug Ducey to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona, according to sources familiar with the matter. The allegations, first reported by The Washington Post, indicate Trump also repeatedly asked his Vice President Mike Pence to assist in the efforts.
This story has been underreported by right-leaning news outlets.
Left-oriented news outlets have provided more than five times the coverage to this story, according to the SAN Media Miss tool.
Sources cited by The Post reveal Trump asked Vice President Pence to call Ducey and prod him to find the evidence to substantiate Trump’s claims of fraud. Pence called Ducey several times to discuss the election, they said, though he did not follow Trump’s directions to pressure the governor.
In an interview with Face the Nation, Pence confirmed that he had made calls but stated that he did not recall there being any pressure from Trump to overturn the results.
“I did check in, with not only Gov. Ducey, but other governors and states that were going through the legal process of reviewing their election results,” Pence told Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan. “But there was no pressure involved. Margaret, I was calling to get an update. I passed along that information to the president. It was no more, no less, than that,” Pence added.
Trump narrowly lost Arizona to Joe Biden in November 2020.
This case may sound familiar because Trump is already accused of attempting to illegally overturn the election results in Georgia, another state with a Republican governor during the 2020 elections.
Investigators are currently focusing on a separate phone call there where Trump asked the then-Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find enough votes to overturn his loss.
Legal experts said Trump may have violated at least three Georgia criminal laws: conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud and intentional interference with performance of election duties, according to Reuters.
Trump could argue that his discussions were free speech protected by the U.S. Constitution.
Trump has not been convicted of any crimes related to this so far.
Despite the allegations, Trump continues to lead the GOP presidential primaries in polling by double digits as he aims for a second term in the White House, according to RealClearPolitics.
Meanwhile, polling conducted by NPR in April revealed that most Republicans stated they would still vote for Trump even if he were convicted of a crime. Trump’s team is banking on this support.
“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,” a statement from Trump’s campaign said.
