Arizona secretary of state's office subpoenaed in special counsel 2020 probe

Washington — The Arizona secretary of state's office received and complied with a subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith's office related to the federal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, spokesperson Paul Smith-Leonard confirmed to CBS News.

The subpoena requested documents related to a pair of election-related lawsuits filed in 2020 by the Trump campaign and the former head of Arizona's Republican party, Kelli Ward. Contact between Secretary of State Adrian Fontes' office and Smith's team began in May and an outside counsel hired by the office — Coppersmith Brockelman — responded to the grand jury request, said Smith-Leonard.

The Arizona Republic first reported the existence of the subpoena. 

The 2020 battleground state became a focal point of former President Donald Trump and his supporters' attempts to reverse the results of the presidential election. 

Prosecutors in Smith's office continue to examine an alleged fake electors scheme in which supporters of the former president worked to overturn the certification of the electoral college votes, which were won by President Biden, via an alternate group of swing-state representatives pledging support to Trump.

As part of the federal probe, Georgia's Secretary of State — Brad Raffenspereger — spoke with investigators last month and representatives from Nevada appeared before a grand jury in Washington, D.C.

On Wednesday, former Arizona Republican Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers — who publicly testified before the House Jan. 6 committee last year about his resisting pressure from Trump and his allies to overturn election results — told CNN he recently spoke with Smith's investigators. 

The subpoena of the Arizona Secretary of State was the second received by the office in recent months connected to the federal probe, according to a person familiar with the matter. The first request came last year, during the administration of Arizona's previous secretary of state, and was processed by the same outside law firm that has handled much of the office's responses to 2020-related matters. 

Smith's office declined to comment.