Proponents of the Big Lie are increasingly looking to replicate the Arizona election “audit” in their own states. Records we obtained show that election-denying activists were frequently in touch with those involved in the Arizona effort. #FoiaFriday
In June, “audit” spokesman Randy Pullen received a text message from William “Sparky” Smith, who is from a group called the Election Integrity Project. documentcloud.org/documents/2105…
“We would like for our 4-6 member team to meet with Az Audit officials who can give details of the logistics of a major audit,” Smith wrote. Smith wanted help setting up an “audit” of counties in California. Pullen responded by asking how he could help.
A few days later, a reporter texted Pullen to ask, “Do you know if your folks have been in touch with Sen. Dave Argall from PA? He says he wants to do an audit too.” Pullen replied, “I think so.”
A calendar entry for an “Election Integrity Call” on July 3 includes Wisconsin Rep. Janel Brandtjen, who has tried to start an investigation in Wisconsin (separate from the one undertaken by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos).
Arizona Rep. Mark Finchem and Catherine Engelbrecht, the founder of voting-restriction organization True the Vote, were also invited to participate in the call.
The agenda includes updates on 13 states, with Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin listed as “Tier 1.” It’s unclear whose calendar this appears on, but a similar invitation for an earlier call was sent to Arizona Sen. Sonny Borelli.
New: The Arizona Senate has now asked Cyber Ninjas to make “audit” records available to the Senate. This follows yesterday’s order from the Arizona Supreme Court that effectively upholds lower court rulings that the documents are public records. americanoversight.org/document/ameri…
“[P]lease immediately make available to the Arizona State Senate all records within your custody or control...with a substantial nexus to the audit,” Arizona Senate President Karen Fann wrote to the Cyber Ninjas firm yesterday.
”[D]ocuments with a substantial nexus to the audit include without limitation all documents and communications relating to the planning and performance or execution of the audit, all policies and procedures used in connection with the audit…
This week, we’re doing a deep dive on the Big Lie. On Monday, we discussed the years of voter-fraud activism that laid the foundation. Yesterday, we talked about attempts to stop the certification of the 2020 election. Today, we’re talking about the Jan. 6 attack.
The myth of a stolen election built through the sheer force of a unified lie came to a head on Jan. 6, 2021, when a “Stop the Steal” rally led by Donald Trump turned into a violent mob that stormed the Capitol while lawmakers prepared to certify the presidential election results.
One Capitol Police officer and four Trump supporters died in the attack on the Capitol; four law enforcement officers who responded to the attack died by suicide in the following months.
Michael Gabelman, the lawyer hired to run Wisconsin’s bogus election investigation, has been consulting with Shiva Ayyadurai, an election conspiracy theorist.
Records we obtained show Ayyadurai and Gabelman’s connections to the Arizona “audit.” jsonline.com/story/news/pol…
On Aug. 1, Christina Bobb from One America News asked Arizona Senate President Karen Fann if she could share her contact information with former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. Fann replied, “Absolutely of course.”
Gableman was also in contact with Arizona “audit” spokesman Randy Pullen. Records we obtained show that in August, Pullen sent Gableman "three big political points" about the sham “audit.”
BREAKING: The Arizona Supreme Court has denied a petition from the Arizona Senate, leaving in place two lower court rulings that records in the physical custody of “audit” election contractor Cyber Ninjas are public records and must be released. americanoversight.org/arizona-suprem…
The court’s decision also dissolves the stay on a state judge’s order that the Arizona Senate produce documents held in the physical custody of election “audit” contractor Cyber Ninjas.
Each day this week, we’re breaking down an element of the Big Lie. Yesterday, we discussed the years of anti-voting activism that laid the foundation. Today, we’re talking about attempts to stop the certification of the 2020 election. americanoversight.org/from-voter-fra…
When polls closed on Nov. 3, 2020, the result of the presidential election was unclear, in part because of the additional challenges of counting absentee ballots. Four days after Election Day, all the major networks and news agencies called the race for Biden.
Trump and his supporters turned up their efforts to undermine confidence in the results, with a particular focus on the states where the vote had been the closest: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
NEW: County officials in Pennsylvania have been ordered to begin releasing election “audit” documents within 30 days in response to our records requests. americanoversight.org/pennsylvania-c…
Fulton County, Penn., was an early testing ground for the use of sham “audits” to cast doubt on the 2020 election — including the involvement of at least one company that would go on to play a major role in Arizona.
Fulton’s “audits” in Dec. 2020 and Feb. 2021, backed by pro-Trump Sen. Doug Mastriano and others, were conducted by the company Wake TSI — which worked as a contractor to a nonprofit operated by Sidney Powell, who represented Trump in election challenges. azmirror.com/2021/05/24/gro…