The Trump administration widens its probe of the 2020 election as it obtains records from Arizona

PHOENIX (AP) — The Republican leader of Arizona's state Senate said Monday he has handed over records related to the 2020 presidential election to the FBI in the latest sign that the Trump administration is acting on the president's longstanding falsehoods about a race he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Senate President Warren Petersen said in a social media post that he complied “late last week” with a federal grand jury subpoena for records related to a controversial audit of the election in Maricopa County that had been ordered by legislative Republicans.

“The FBI has the records,” Petersen said.

He did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment, and a spokesperson for Senate Republicans said in an email that Petersen “does not have anything to add outside of his X post at this time.” The FBI office in Phoenix did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It marks the second time this year that the FBI has obtained records related to the 2020 election from the most populous county in a presidential battleground state, both of which Trump lost as he sought reelection. In January, the FBI seized ballots and other records from Georgia's Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, after the Justice Department sought a search warrant from a judge. The search warrant affidavit showed that the request relied on years-old claims, many of which had been thoroughly investigated and found to have no connection to widespread fraud.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, issued a scathing statement in response to Petersen's post, noting that multiple audits, independent investigations and legal challenges related to the 2020 presidential election found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have affected the outcome.

“Warren Petersen knows all of this. He has known it for years. He spread false stories of election fraud in 2020, and he remains an unrepentant election denier,” Mayes said. “What the Trump administration appears to be pursuing now is not a legitimate law enforcement inquiry. It is the weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies.”

A firm hired by Republican lawmakers spent six months in 2021 searching for evidence of fraud in the previous year's presidential election, a process experts said was marred by bias and a flawed methodology. It explored outlandish conspiracy theories, such as dedicating time to checking for bamboo fibers on ballots to see if they were secretly shipped in from Asia.

The audit ended without producing proof to support former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a stolen election — and in fact found that Biden received 360 more votes than stated in the certified results for Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.

The firm, Cyber Ninjas, also acknowledged that there were “no substantial differences” between its hand count of the ballots and the official count.

Previous reviews of the 2.1 million ballots by nonpartisan professionals who followed state law found no significant problem with the 2020 election in Maricopa County, which was run by Republicans then and now. Biden won the county by 45,000 votes and went on to win Arizona by 10,500 votes.

Federal officials took different routes to obtain election records in the two states. The Georgia case involved a judicially-approved search warrant that required the FBI to articulate grounds that probable cause exists to believe a crime was committed. In Arizona, the FBI relied on subpoenas, a law enforcement maneuver that does not require judicial sign-off or for prosecutors to assert that there’s probable cause of a crime.

The investigations into the 2020 election come as the Justice Department has clashed with a number of states, including some controlled by Republicans, over access to detailed voter data that includes names, dates of birth, addresses and partial Social Security numbers. Election officials have expressed concerns that providing the information would violate both state and federal data privacy laws, and that it could be used to remove people from state voter rolls.

Arizona is among the states the Justice Department has sued to obtain the voter information. Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, suggested that at least some Maricopa County voter files could be among the records Petersen gave the FBI. In a statement Monday, Fontes said his office was considering legal options “to secure personal voter information in the 2020 data that was shared.”

Calli Jones, a secretary of state spokesperson, said the office is assessing what was released to the FBI.

“This could be an end run by the Department of Justice to obtain unredacted voter files,” she said.

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - Supporters of President Donald Trump rally outside the Maricopa County Recorder's Office, Friday, Nov. 6, 2020, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

FILE - The main entrance at the Maricopa County Elections Department in Phoenix, Sept. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

ROME (AP) — Some of the lesser-known treasures at San Pietro in Vincoli basilica in Rome, known for Michelangelo’s massive marble statue of Moses, are finally being restored.

Thanks to an infusion of European Union pandemic recovery funding, a frenzied series of restorations at religious, historic and cultural sites around the Eternal City are popping up.

On Monday, restorer Melanie Khanthajan climbed up a series of ladders with her toolbox to her perch on the scaffolding near the basilica ceiling, 20 meters (65 feet) off the floor. Using a scalpel, she painstakingly scraped off layers of plaster on serpentine decorations around a coat of arms on the vaulted ceiling, a technique called “descialbo.”

“Every removal of a layer surprises us because it allows us to understand what it is like, what emerges,” she explained. “So for us it’s wonderful, it’s a discovery every day.”

The ceilings, altar, tombs, marble columns and decorations of the basilica are being cleaned and restored with a 2-million-euro ($2.3 million) EU recovery grant that is keeping Khanthajan and 10 other restorers busy.

The city of Rome received 500 million euros ($579 million) in European funds for the “Caput Mundi” projects to be used on over 100 cultural renovations in the city. “Caput Mundi” was a term used by ancient Romans to mean “the head of the world.” According to an agreement with the EU, the funds must be used before the end of 2026.

The basilica is just a few steps from Rome’s Colosseum and gets its name, “vincoli,” from the Latin “vincula” for chains. A glass box at the center of the altar holds ancient chains, relics that, according to tradition, were used to hold St. Peter in Jerusalem. According to tradition, they then miraculously fused together with the chains used on Peter when he was held in the Mamertine prison in Rome.

The basilica was built in the 5th century under the Eastern Roman Empire and then in the 16th century Pope Julius II had the church partially rebuilt, adding his noble family Della Rovere’s coat of arms with an oak tree at the center on the ceilings, arches and chapels. The coat of arms and other decorations are the focus of the restoration.

The main attraction of the basilica is the sculpture of Moses, made by Michelangelo in 1513 to decorate the funeral monument of Julius. The Moses is not part of the restoration but will get a dusting off when the job is done.

“The works started about eight months ago and will end by May 2026,” said Ilaria Sgarbozza, the scientific director of the restoration project. “Let’s say it’s a very fast pace.”

A fresco depicting Jesus Christ is visible inside the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

The hand of a restorer peaks from a scaffolding inside the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Journalists visit the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome during its restoration works, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

From right, restorers Ilaria Balmas, and Victoria Mattia polish the tomb of Cardinal Mariano Vecchiarelli inside the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Restorer Domiziana Marchioro polishes the altar od St. Sebastian inside the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome, Monday, March 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)