Pro-Trump legal team takes over Arizona county in illegal 'power grab': court filing

The pro-Donald Trump legal group, America First Legal (AFL), has taken over the Maricopa County Recorder's office, and it's illegal, one Arizona reporter Brahm Resnik wrote, citing a new court case.

County Recorder Justin Heap hired American First Legal to counsel them in a lawsuit, court documents show. County Attorney Rachel Mitchell sued over the matter and revealed a slew of concerning details in the process.

Mitchell asked for a temporary restraining order and injunction at the Superior Court of the State of Arizona in and for the County of Maricopa, but the court ruled that she lacked standing.

However, a new filing alleges that the "AFL has abused that limited ruling and used it as a launching pad for [an] unprecedented power grab. In the past three-and-a-half weeks alone, AFL, a partisan non-profit organization funded by private donors, and the Recorder have: 1. Proclaimed that AFL will serve as the Recorder's counsel on 'all' matters 'covering the administration of early voting or any election statute that contains the phrase "recorder or other officer in charge of elections," based on self-declared global conflict of interest with the County Attorney.'"

The suit also claims that the AFL has "instructed County elections staff to disregard legal advice from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office (MCAO) about voter instructions at polling locations."

The AFL allegedly told staff they couldn't seek any legal advice from the county attorney and tried to prevent the county attorney from attending a Board of Supervisors executive session about the election, the suit says.

AFL then "threatened to pursue criminal charges against the Board for establishing drop boxes — forcing Attorney General Kris Mayes to write a letter to AFL warning it against making 'unfounded threats of criminal liability.'" The pro-Trump legal group then allegedly sent a letter to the Board threatening to sue them under a criminal statute and demanding public records.

Mitchell's filing makes it clear that AFL was never hired to provide "in-house" counsel for the Recorder's office.

The filing goes on to allege that the AFL is "acting as de facto deputy county attorneys is ultra vires and illegal. The Recorder lacks any explicit or implicit statutory authority to hire outside counsel — let alone a partisan organization — to serve as in-house counsel on 'all' matters under his 'purview.'"

The uploaded filing only contains excerpts from the full document and doesn't cite any specifics about dates for hearings or details about where the case stands.

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