republican chair kelli ward, nicknamed kim trail kelley by mitch mcconnell, calling supervisor clint hickman on behalf of trump. >> hey, clint. it's kelli ward. i just talked to president trump, and he would like me to talk to you and also see if he needs to give you a call to discuss what's happening on the ground in maricopa. give me a call back when you can. thanks. bye. >> rudy giuliani also left a voicemail for hickman. then on the night of january 3rd, the day trump's call with georgia's secretary of state was published, the man in charge of the maricopa county election got this voice mail. >> hello, sir. this is the white house operator. i was calling to let you know that the president's available to take your call if you're free. if you could please give us a call back, sir, that would be great. you have a good evening. >> trump has never stopped that pressure campaign. it was a multi-pronged effort that included pressuring elected officials, storming the capitol, and now passing restrictive

clint hickman at the time was the chair of the board of supervisors in maricopa county, a republican. he says he never returned those calls or ones from the white house switchboard operator with requests to call back former president trump. and i want to give you the time frame of when these calls were made in relation to that call that the then-president made to georgia's secretary of state brad raffensperger, the infamous find me votes call. that was january 2nd. the voice mmail we just played u from kelly ward to hickman was made back on november 13. so this pressure campaign on state election officials began very soon after the vote. the giuliani call was made to hickman on december 4, and the white house switchboard calls, one on new year's eve, another on january 3rd. why is january 3rd especially significant? it's because the news broke of trump's call to raffensperger worldwide that day. that very same night, the white house was trying to get to hickman, get him on the line for the president, a president desperate to stay in power. pretty brazen stuff, right? so what exactly w

clint hickman and people like him are the unsung heroes of our democracy. our democracy nearly died, after the last election. and people like mr. hickman showed integrity, regardless of their political party, to just do their job. to look for every-legal vote. to count every-legal vote and to certify the election and they did. and -- and thank god, they did because donald trump tested all of them. >> i mean, worthy of underscoring a trump supporter cast his ballot, received the nod on the tarmac and so forth. and yet, when the call came from the white house switchboard, wouldn't take it. >> and, michael, this just shows donald trump is only loyal to you, as long as that helps donald trump. and it reminds me, also, of the police, right? he held himself up as this person who honored the police in america. but as soon as it was the police that stood in the way of the mob that attacked the capitol, you can't find donald trump or any republicans, frankly, other than liz cheney and adam kinzinger to honor the police. and so, they are really showing their true colo

take care, bye. >> here's another from arizona republican party chair kelly ward to clint hickman. >> hey, clint. it's kelly ward. i just talked to president trump, and he would like me to talk to you and also see if he needs to give you a call to discuss what's happening on the ground in maricopa. give me a call back when you can. thanks. bye. >> hickman told the arizona republic he believed trump was going to ask him to change the results of the 2020 election or promote other election-based conspiracy theories, so he decided not to return the president's call. another supervisor tells the paper he didn't return two calls from the white house switchboard operator who indicated then president trump wanted to speak to him. kelly ward didn't respond to comment from the arizona republic. cnn reached out but hasn't heard back yet. we've reached out to rudy giuliani for comment and are still waiting. we just heard from former president trump's team, quote, it's no surprise that maricopa county election officials had no desire to look into significant irregularities during the election. the

donald trump called lifelong republican clint hickman twice through a white house operator. the arizona republic reports hickman's phone rang about 8:30 p.m. on new year's eve while he was on a date with his wife and friends in north central phoenix. he didn't recognize the number carrying washington d.c.'s area code and let it go to voice mail. hickman quickly listened to the message. the white house switchboard wanted him to call back so he could talk to the president he called in an interview with the arizona republic. hickman did not return the call and later deleted the voice mail. trump encouraged him to find enough votes to reverse trump's narrow loss there. hickman recalled listening to the leaked audio of that hour-long phone call after "the washington post" and other media outlets published the recording. i was horrified, hickman said. that same night at 9:22 p.m. approaching midnight in washington, his phone buzzed again. it was the same area code. he let it go to voice mail again. here is that voicemail from the white house operator on january 3rd. >> hello, sir,

much of the attention from trump's allies were focused on supervisor clint hickman.ent west valley family that runs an egg company. on november 13th hours after a late evening ballot update from maricopa county clinched biden's win in arizona he delivered a message, quote. potus probably will be calling you. hickman ignored two calls from the white house telling "the arizona republic" saying that he presumed trump would try to influence the outcome as he did with georgia officials. this is where we start this hour with some of our favorite reporters and friends. ashley parker is here, "washington post" bureau chief. eddie glide, princeton university. former republican congressman david jolly here, the national chairman of the serve america movement. lucky for us all three are msnbc contributors. ashley, this is tremendous reporting in "the washington post" we started with. take us through what it means for the mid-term. >> it just gives you a sense of how much former president trump is still the leader of the republican party and how much the false, dangerous and bas

a represent named clint hickman. he let the first call go to voicemail.couple of days later "the washington post" published a phone call in which president georgia secretary of state to look into the results in his state. the call where trump said he needed to find 11,000 votes. that same night the republican elections official in arizona got another voicemail. a got another voicemail. >> the official told the arizona republic he presumed trump would try to pressure him. so he never returned that call. this new reporting is the latest to detail a multi-state effort by trump and his allies to undermine the results of the 2020 election, the same effort to led to a so-called audit that's been going on in arizona since april. run by the cyber ninjas. now the republican playbook on how to overturn the 2020 election is turning a new page, this time in pennsylvania. the associated press is reporting today that republicans in the pennsylvania state senate might be planning their own audit of the 2020 election in their state. that effort is led by republican state

clint hickman is this fellow's name, and he was a maricopa county supervisor, a trump supporters. it's not as if he were a detractor. what's most significant to me is he was supportive of donald trump, had met him on the tarmac. he had even gotten one of those campaign rally shout outs, but he's in a position now of authority relative to counting the ballots, and on two occasions when the white house operator reaches out for him, one of them interestingly was a new year's eve phone call, he refuses to take the call. and meanwhile, in georgia, brad raffensperger does take the call and we all got to hear the sum and substance of it. so this was a guy who voted for donald trump, wanted donald trump to be reelected but knew enough to stay away when the former president who was then the president tried to meddle in the election outcome. >> i want to get your thoughts on something that i know has been weighing on your mind, mook l, -- michael, something that is relevant post fourth of july, the politicalization of the american flag. >> so it's funny because on radio recently going into

recall what clint hickman, the guy at the center of this, said on this show. >> i told people that were close to the trump campaign, with all this litigation that was going on, i said just hey, just do me a favor, i can't talk to anyone while this is being litigated. and that stayed true all the way up till that new year's weekend. i got a phone call from the white house switchboard. >> arizona's secretary katie hobbs joins us right now. secretary of state, thank you very much. any indication that the republicans in your state want to move away from the fraud farce and deal with any actual fraud that involved anything to do with trump? >> well, we could only hope. but right now it seems like they are just continuing to lead by conspiracy theory. those who know that this fraud is a farce aren't willing to speak up about it. and certainly no indication that the state's top law en, toment officer is going to act on our request to investigate. in fact, he didn't even need a request from my office. he should have just acted on the reports alone. every layperson can look at this and say this

records are showing he also attempted to do the same thing with election officials in arizona but clint hickman, the chairman of the maricopa county board of supervisors, rejected the calls. we will deal into it with former manhattan assistant rebecca roiphe and with jill wine-banks at the top of the hour. we will break it down and you don't want to miss the analysis and conversation. still ahead, everybody. >>> olympics dreams shattered. an inspiring track and field star suspended over marijuana use. the growing debate over whether officials should just let her run. >> don't judge me because i am human. i am you, i just happen to run a little faster. ttle faster. taking align can help. align contains a quality probiotic to naturally help soothe digestive upsets 24/7. try align, the pros in digestive health. with relapsing forms of ms... there's a lot to deal with. not just unpredictable relapses. all these other things too. it can all add up. kesimpta is a once-monthly at-home injection... that may help you put these rms challenges in their place. kesimpta was proven superior at reducing the r