Copyright © 2022 Albuquerque Journal
SANTA FE – The special counsel overseeing a criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election directed New Mexico’s top election officials last month to turn over any communications with Donald Trump or his allies, according to a subpoena released Monday.
The Secretary of State’s Office in New Mexico did not have any of the communications requested, but is complying with the subpoena and will “cooperate with the special counsel in any way we’re asked to in the future,” SOS spokesman Alex Curtas said Monday.
It wasn’t clear whether other election officials in New Mexico, such as county clerks, have received similar demands for documents.
But the subpoena demonstrates New Mexico may figure into the criminal investigation overseen by special counsel Jack Smith – who was appointed last month to handle federal investigations concerning Trump, including one into whether anyone illegally interfered with the transfer of power or certification of the Electoral College vote.
Election officials in several states besides New Mexico have received subpoenas seeking Trump communications.
Why New Mexico’s election office received one is not clear.
But state Attorney General Hector Balderas earlier this year referred to federal law enforcement allegations that Republicans in New Mexico submitted a false document intended to deliver the state’s presidential electors to Trump, even though he lost the race by 11 percentage points.
Five New Mexico Republicans in December 2020 signed an electoral certificate for Trump, but with the caveat that it was filed “on the understanding that it might later be determined that we are the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America from the State of New Mexico.”
Biden won New Mexico by about 99,720 votes. The Trump campaign in 2020 voluntarily dismissed its own lawsuit questioning the results, and the state Republican Party has insisted the five GOP electors did nothing illegal.
The subpoena sent to New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver’s office sought documents covering any Trump communications between June 1, 2020, and Jan. 20, 2021.
The request also covered communications with a number of other people, including John Eastman, a Santa Fe lawyer who advised Trump in his failed bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Attorneys for Eastman did not immediately respond Monday to Journal questions about the subpoena.
Curtas, a spokesman for Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat who has defended the integrity of New Mexico’s elections, said the Secretary of State’s Office did not have any of the communications requested by the special counsel, but is complying with the subpoena.
“We’re pleased,” Curtas said, “to see the special counsel taking a serious look at the efforts to illegally overturn the free and fair results of the 2020 election, which included a frivolous lawsuit by the Trump campaign and a slate of fake Republican electors here in New Mexico.”
Curtas released the subpoena after a Journal request.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland last month named Smith special counsel to oversee the Department of Justice investigation into classified material at Trump’s residence in Florida. Smith is also overseeing inquiries related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Trump, for his part, has called the appointment of a special counsel an abuse of power and maintains he’s done nothing wrong.
He has announced plans to run for president again in 2024.
