WASHINGTON — Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed to investigate former President Donald Trump at the Justice Department, has issued a subpoena to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Raffensperger on Monday received a subpoena from Smith dated Dec. 9, a spokesman for his office said. His office had no further comment. The subpoena was first reported Monday by The Washington Post.
The subpoena asks Raffensperger to provide documents; it is not a request for him to appear or testify in person, said a source familiar with the matter. His lawyers are “weighing options” about a timeline to respond, the source said.
Smith has issued subpoenas to election officials in other battleground states. On Monday, NBC News confirmed that officials in Clark County, Nevada, were called to testify before a grand jury or provide documents and records to the FBI by Dec. 9.
Trump called Raffensperger, a Republican who is Georgia’s top elections official, on Jan. 2, 2021, and demanded that he “find” the votes to reverse President Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
Trump told Raffensperger: “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
Georgia reaffirmed Biden’s victory several times after the election in November 2020.
Smith has also sent subpoenas to local officials in key presidential swing states for any and all communications involving Trump, his campaign and a series of aides and allies who assisted in his effort to overturn the 2020 election.
According to a subpoena obtained by NBC News through a Freedom of Information Act request, officials in Clark County were asked to provide such communications from June 1, 2020, through Jan. 20, 2021. The subpoena, dated Nov. 22, demanded records related to 19 Trump allies, including attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and John Eastman.
Other subpoenas were issued to top elections officials in Wayne County, Michigan; Milwaukee and Dane counties, Wisconsin; Maricopa County, Arizona; and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Those counties are home to Detroit, Milwaukee, Madison, Phoenix and Pittsburgh, respectively.
Bruce Marks, one of the Trump lawyers referenced in the subpoenas, told NBC News last week he thought the records request was “a gross overreach” of what he characterized as “clearly privileged communications between me and other attorneys who were involved with the Trump campaign.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith as special counsel last month to investigate Trump’s handling of classified documents that were found at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and “key aspects” of the investigation into his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Zoë Richards contributed.
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