Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes with Sinaloa Cartel update

The U.S. government has frozen the financial assets of 15 Sinaloa Cartel members and six Mexico-based businesses known for trafficking drugs into Arizona and the U.S.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said she hopes these actions will help “retake the border,” and she joined us on Arizona Horizon to further talk about this, along with other pressing issues.

“It’s primarily aimed at attacking the fentanyl crisis we have in this country, especially Arizona. The Mexican cartels are using Arizona like their own personal postal service,” Mayes said in discussion with our host, Ted Simons.

“They are bringing fentanyl across the border. In 2022, we know that more than half of all the fentanyl seized in the United States was seized in Arizona. In 2023, it looks like it was even worse. And so I’m very glad that the Biden administration, and in particular the Treasury Department decided to take this step,” Mayes said in reference to the investigation.

“And I joined him (President Biden) at a press conference to announce the targeting of cartels where it hurts the most, which is their money and their assets. And they’re going to freeze those assets and essentially sanction these entities the same way we did with the Russians regarding Ukraine,” continued Mayes.

Mayes was also asked about an investigation she launched last year, which is investigating the 11 Arizona Republican politicians that signed documents falsely stating former President Donald Trump had won the 2020 presidential election.

“We are investigating the fake electors scheme, and that investigation is ongoing, and we’ll have something to say fairly soon about that. I understand the frustration and the desire to know more right now, but it just wouldn’t be appropriate for me to say much more than that,” Mayes said.

Mayes continued, “So, we’ll update everybody as soon as we have something to talk about.”

Mayes also briefly addressed comments Republican Senator Anthony Kern had recently made, where he claimed he was being personally attacked by Mayes, and that Mayes was “weaponizing the government.”

“We’re definitely not weaponizing the government,” Mayes said. “As I’ve said all along, we’re conducting a professional investigation into the fake electors scheme and that involves me allowing our lawyers and investigators to do their job.”