Judge dismisses Arizona GOP chair lawsuit to block Jan. 6 select committee

Judge dismisses Arizona GOP chair lawsuit to block Jan. 6 select committee subpoena

A federal judge has cleared the way for the Jan. 6 select committee to access the phone records of Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward, dismissing Ward’s lawsuit to block a subpoena issued by the panel in January.

In an 18-page ruling issued late Thursday, Arizona-based U.S.District Court Judge Diane Humetewa said the committee has a legitimate reason to obtain Ward’s call logs during the weeks between Election Day 2020 and the end of Donald Trump’s term in office, a period in which Ward help organize a set of pro-Trump electors who claimed to be Arizona’s legitimate slate, even though Biden had won the state.

“That three-month period is plainly relevant to its investigation into the causes of the January 6th attack,” Humetewa ruled. “The Court therefore has little doubt concluding these records may aid the Select Committee’s valid legislative purpose.”

In addition to her work on the slate of false electors — which included both Ward and her husband, Michael — Ward used her perch atop the Arizona GOP to stoke false claims of election fraud in the weeks following the conclusion of voting. Both Wards also joined a lawsuit against then-Vice President Mike Pence in late December 2020, amid a campaign by Trump to pressure Pence to help subvert the election.

Ward indicated her intent to appeal the ruling in a notice filed with the district court Friday morning. An attorney for her did not immediately respond to a request for comment.