Kelli Ward

PHOENIX โ€” State GOP chair Kelli Ward has no legal right to block a U.S. House committee from getting her phone records about her activities leading up to the Jan. 6th insurrection, an attorney for the government is telling a federal judge.

Douglas Letter said Ward โ€œparticipated in multiple aspectsโ€™โ€™ to interfere with the electoral count that was taking place.

โ€œShe told Maricopa County to stop counting ballots, and promoted inaccurate allegations of election interference by Dominion Voting Systems,โ€™โ€™ wrote Letter, who is the general counsel for the U.S. House.

Even after the stateโ€™s election results were certified showing Joe Biden won Arizona, she and others convened as electors for Donald Trump โ€œand sent a set of unauthorized Electoral College votes to Congress that she misdescribed as โ€˜representing the legal votes of Arizona,โ€™ โ€˜โ€™ he wrote.

Ward filed suit earlier this year seeking to block a subpoena of her phone records. She argued providing the records would violate her rights and those of her husband, Michael, who, like she, is a doctor. She also said it would expose her patients who go to her for weight loss.

Ward also argued the Select Committee is operating illegally. Thatโ€™s because only nine members were appointed to what was supposed to be a panel of 13 after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to accept some suggestions from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

But Letter told U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa everything the committee did, including issuing the subpoena, complied with congressional rules.

He also urged the judge to reject Wardโ€™s claim that going after her phone records violates her First Amendment rights, including the right of โ€œpolitical association.โ€™โ€™

โ€œThe subpoena does not seek the content of any communication,โ€™โ€™ Letter said. Instead, he said, it seeks only the information about who Ward communicated with, when, and for how long.

โ€œNone of the data reveals any speech or associational rights protected by the First Amendment,โ€ Letter told Humetewa.

And even if they did โ€” a point he is not conceding โ€” he said it would be โ€œoutweighedโ€™โ€™ by the overwhelming interests of Congress.

โ€œThe Select Committeeโ€™s subpoena seeks records relevant to determining the root causes of the Jan. 6th insurrection against Congress, a violent attack on the seat of our nationโ€™s government that resulted in the deaths of several law enforcement officers and deepened public distrust in our political processes,โ€™โ€™ Letter said.

He also said Ward has no legal standing to challenge the subpoena.

โ€œThe Select Committee is not criminally investigating the Wards or anyone else,โ€™โ€™ he wrote. โ€œNor is the Select Committee, by investigating the Jan. 6th attack trying to expose information for the sake of exposure.โ€™โ€™

Letter told Humetewa the mere prospect that misconduct may be exposed does not make the subpoena improper.

โ€œAnd Dr. Kelli Wardโ€™s extensive efforts at overturning the presidential election ... provide ample basis for issuing the subpoena,โ€™โ€™ he said.

T-Mobile, the company that provides Wardโ€™s phone, submitted its own request to have the subpoena quashed.

Humetewa has set no date for a ruling.

Ward and others have received a separate subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice over their role in submitting the slate of fake electors to Congress.


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Howard Fischer is a veteran journalist who has been reporting since 1970 and covering state politics and the Legislature since 1982. Follow him on Twitter at @azcapmedia or email azcapmedia@gmail.com.