PHOENIX — A spokesman for former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey confirmed Tuesday that Ducey has been contacted by special prosecutor Jack Smith's team, which is investigating former President Donald Trump's role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
"Yes, he's been contacted," said Daniel Scarpinato, the governor's spokesman and former chief of staff when Ducey was in office. "He's been responsive, and just as he's done since the election, he will do the right thing."
CNN was was first to report Tuesday on the Smith team's contact with the former Republican governor.
The Ducey contact highlights Arizona's central role in investigations of Trump's attempts to reverse his election defeat.
The former Republican governor is among several GOP elected officials in Arizona who were pressured by Trump or his representatives to overturn the state's 2020 presidential election results after Trump's narrow defeat here.
For almost 70 years, Republicans had a virtual lock on Arizona in presidential elections.
Ducey was a loyal Trump supporter during the presidential campaign.
He appeared with Trump at several Arizona events, including an indoor rally at the height of the pandemic in June 2020, as well as a visit to a new stretch of border fence near Yuma.
The public symbol of Trump's pressure came when Ducey, in his role as governor, certified Arizona's 2020 election results in late November 2020. Video shows Ducey was briefly interrupted by a cell phone call with the "Hail to The Chief" ringtone -- a call from Trump.
In December 2020, during a press briefing, a reporter asked Ducey if Trump had called him during the certification and if, at any point, Trump asked him not to sign that certification.
Ducey confirmed it was the White House, but because it was through a switchboard, he did not realize it was Trump calling until later. Ducey said he called Trump back, but he was choosing to keep his conversation confidential and denied Trump asked him not to certify the election.
The news of Ducey's contact with Smith's office comes the same day Trump disclosed through his TruthSocial account that he learned Sunday he might be charged with a federal crime by a grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Ducey left office in January 2023 after serving the maximum two terms as governor.
Ducey, a former chair of the Republican Governors' Association, is now running a PAC to help register "free enterprise" voters.
Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported on Trump and his allies' attempts to pressure Ducey in the wake of the election defeat.
The Post story says Ducey told a donor "he was surprised that special counsel Jack Smith's team had not inquired about his phone calls with Trump" and Vice President Mike Pence.
Ducey's spokesman confirmed to 12News that the outreach from Jack Smith's office came after the Post story was published.
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