Maricopa County’s GOP Recorder Won’t Block DOJ Overreach

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Maricopa County’s GOP Recorder Won’t Block DOJ Overreach

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Hello and welcome to La Franchise!

This week, we will uncover the latest developments and the crucial story behind the 2020 Maricopa County election investigation conducted by the Trump administration. We also have Cleta Mitchell celebrating (and taking credit for) Republican leadership in the Senate that finally gave in to Trump and opened a marathon debate over the SAVE America Act, and, along the same lines, Florida, which took a cue from the Trump administration and passed its own version of the SAVE America Act.

Let’s dig.

Maricopa County GOP recorder eager to comply with DOJ election investigation

We’ll break the latest news as the DOJ expands its so-called 2020 election investigation into Maricopa County, Arizona. But first, a quick reminder of what’s going on.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration expanded its 2020 election investigation to Maricopa County. The FBI has reportedly subpoenaed the Arizona State Senate grand jury for the 2020 election results, hoping to uncover fraud revealed by multiple audits and investigations. does not exist. This is all part of President Trump’s continued weaponization of the Justice Department as a White House-run entity that acts on his grievances and carries out personal retaliation.

Despite Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes specifically warning county recorders not to give in to the administration’s demands for sensitive voter data, Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, a Republican, said in a recent podcast that he would be “happy to comply.”

“My office is certainly prepared to comply with a court order if we receive it to turn over the disks, but we have not received that request,” Heap said during a radio interview Friday on KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.

“The FBI or some agency has to go to court, get an order for us, and if that’s the case, we’ll be happy to comply,” he added.

Fontes and Mayes, in warning county recorders not to turn over voter data to the DOJ, explained in their joint letter that the department could try to use the expanded Arizona election investigation to access sensitive voter files. The effort to obtain voter record data is part of the administration’s months-long campaign to seize voter information (including driver’s license numbers and Social Security numbers) from states across the country — information to which it is not entitled.

Heap, who has been Maricopa County’s recorder since 2025, may not be an outright election denier himself, but he has definitely flirted with Big Lie-adjacent themes in the past. In 2024, he refused to answer questions about whether he thought the 2022 election was stolen from MAGA ally and major “Stop the Steal” supporter Kari Lake, and whether he thought the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.

Instead of answering these simple questions in 2024, according to an Arizona Mirror report, he told reporters the following: “I’m a lawyer. I’ll only make statements that I feel I can prove.”

Not a very good look for the person responsible for managing the elections!

Heap also voted in favor of some pretty concerning election bills during his time as a state lawmaker, including measures to ban electronic voting machines and mandate hand counting of ballots — both proposals stem from 2020 election conspiracy theories about machines magically flipping votes and are bad for the security and integrity of elections.

Cleta Mitchell takes credit for SAVE America Act movement

This week, Republican leaders in the Senate procedurally kicked off what is expected to be a marathon debate and eventual Senate vote — without changing filibuster rules — on the SAVE America Act, a restrictive voting bill that, among other things, would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote.

As experts explained to TPM, the bill would disenfranchise millions of eligible voters who lack citizenship documentation, as well as some low-income Americans and/or married women who change their last name and who do not have an updated photo ID, which would also be required to vote.

For weeks now, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has faced increasing pressure from Trump and MAGA supporters, including Cleta Mitchell, to bring the SAVE America Act to the Senate floor and change the filibuster rules in order to pass it. Thune has repeatedly said there is not enough support in the Senate to change the rules on the filibuster.

Debate on the bill is expected to last into next week.

And Mitchell now wants to get some credit for the bill finally passing the Senate this week.

“There’s going to be a debate – organized to keep @LeaderJohnThune in control,” Mitchell wrote in an article on X earlier this week. “All of this is a drastic change from a week ago. Or even from last Tuesday.”

Even if the Senate debates the bill, the proposal will almost certainly fail because it still requires a supermajority to pass.

Florida passes its own version of the SAVE America Act

Florida officially passed its own version of the SAVE America Act on Friday.

The Florida bill, like its federal counterpart, the SAVE America Act, is a documentary proof of citizenship bill that requires citizenship status to be verified by Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle records in order to register to vote.

Florida is just one of several states that have approved or are in the process of approving proof of citizenship legislation. The bill is set to take effect on January 1 of next year, so we won’t see its impacts felt midterm. Sponsors of the legislation were initially pushing for the law to take effect before the August primary.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will soon sign the bill.

As we’ve previously reported at TPM, it’s no coincidence that state-level citizenship proof bills are emerging at the exact same time that the Trump administration is struggling to pass the SAVE America Act. This state-level effort is a way for the Trump administration to continue advancing its agenda in red states.

This Florida bill, like the SAVE America Act, will make it harder for eligible voters to vote and perpetuate the myth that noncitizens vote in elections. Of course, there is no evidence to suggest that this happens. It is indeed a solution to a problem that does not exist.