{"id":2000,"date":"2026-06-13T11:03:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T11:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2000"},"modified":"2026-06-13T11:03:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T11:03:03","slug":"law-firm-tied-to-trump-advisor-at-center-of-maricopa-county-election-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=2000","title":{"rendered":"Law firm tied to Trump advisor at center of Maricopa County election battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<section>\n<p><b>PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A law firm connected to one of President Donald Trump\u2019s closest advisors is at the center of a legal battle over control of Maricopa County\u2019s next election.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1998\">Pima County talks worker safety as temperatures soar<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The fight over White House influence in local elections is set for a showdown Monday in court.<\/p>\n<p>The law firm is America First Legal, which is based in Washington, D.C. It was co-founded by one of President Trump\u2019s top aides, Stephen Miller, who is known to spread false claims of election fraud.<\/p>\n<p>Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap hired Miller\u2019s firm earlier this year. Since then, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said it has illegally overstepped its authority.<\/p>\n<p>In a court filing, Mitchell wrote, \u201cAFL\u2019s acting as de facto deputy attorneys &#8230; is illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mitchell is expected to open a new front in court on Monday.<\/p>\n<h2>Toxic relationship between county officials<\/h2>\n<p>County Supervisor Thomas Galvin, a Republican, called Heap a liar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJustin Heap, the recorder is a liar, flat out,\u201d Galvin said.<\/p>\n<p>The statement sums up the toxic relationship between the county board and Heap, also a Republican. Politically, the two sides have been at war over who controls elections.<\/p>\n<p>Galvin said Mitchell is telling the courts that Heap is circumventing her office, using a partisan law firm from out of state to run and control the entire recorder\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1996\">Beloved Tucson vegan restaurant may close after 20 years<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s a very damaging and scary allegation,\u201d Galvin said.<\/p>\n<p>Galvin said he has only had interactions with the attorney who works at the recorder\u2019s office. The attorney has written emails to the board saying the board should only go through him. Heap has given up complete control over his office, Galvin said.<\/p>\n<h2>Ballots removed from secure site<\/h2>\n<p>The legal challenge is the latest in the ongoing fight between the board and the recorder\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>This week, the board accused the recorder\u2019s office of removing ballots and equipment from a secure election site during a local election without authorization. The county released video of the removal on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The drama is happening just a couple of weeks before the start of the primary elections.<\/p>\n<p><i>See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i><i>Please click here to report it<\/i><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i><i>it to us here<\/i><i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1994\">YouTuber accused of erecting \u2018pee tent\u2019 in Nancy Guthrie\u2019s neighborhood released after second arrest<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A bitter fight over who controls Maricopa County\u2019s next election is heading to court and the paper trail leads to a Trump-linked law firm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Law firm tied to Trump advisor at center of Maricopa County election battle - 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