News Roundup: Arizona Senate Emails Reveal Giuliani, Trump Contacts
* How Voting Restrictions Perpetuate Lies About Fraud
* Georgia County Election Board's Opposition to Proposed Changes
* Emails About Coronavirus-Spreading ICE Deportations

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The Big Story

As we’ve written over the past few months, the sham ballot-counting process going on in Phoenix isn’t just the work of partisan actors in one single state; it’s the continuation of many months’ worth of lies and anti-democratic rhetoric.

Records obtained late last week by American Oversight provide yet more evidence that the origins of Arizona Senate’s bogus “audit” of ballots cast in Maricopa County was less about assuring voters of election security and more about serving the election-overturning goals of former President Trump’s allies.

On Friday, the state Senate released more than 500 pages of documents in response to American Oversight’s records requests, including emails from Senate President Karen Fann in which she mentioned frequent contact with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani in the weeks after the 2020 presidential election, and even a “personal call” from Trump, who thanked her “for pushing to prove any fraud.”

You can read more here about what was in those records ([link removed]) , which also show the early involvement of a right-wing reporter who has been raising money for the operation as well as emails with constituents requesting that Fann seek the help of a well-known conspiracy theorist. And check out some of the coverage of the document release at the following news sites:
* Washington Post ([link removed]) : Trump called Arizona Senate president to thank her ‘for pushing to prove any fraud’ in election, emails show
* NBC News ([link removed]) : Arizona Republican who ordered election audit touted Trump phone call, Giuliani support in emails
* Arizona Republic ([link removed]) : In emails, Fann tries to appease both critics and supporters of election audit

Like the voicemail obtained by the Arizona Republic last month ([link removed]) in which Giuliani asked a Maricopa supervisor to help “get this thing fixed up,” or the recent New York Times report ([link removed]) that Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows pressured the Justice Department to investigate election conspiracy theories, the new records showcase the extent to which lies about voter fraud are but a flimsy veneer for brazen attempts to overturn a free and fair election.

They also underscore how the Arizona sham audit is part of the larger effort to undermine faith in democracy. Doubt was fomented months before ballots were even cast, thanks to the president’s preemptive lies and the creation of state ballot fraud “task forces” that primed voters to distrust election results. As we outlined on Friday ([link removed]) , new voting restrictions are yet another way public officials are perpetuating the lies that got us here.

And of course, Arizona isn’t alone, with other state Republican lawmakers looking to conduct their own unnecessary recounts. Among them is Pennsylvania, where, as the Washington Post reported ([link removed]) on Monday, state senators in late December lobbied officials in select Trump-leaning counties to allow a private company to “scrutinize the county’s ballots, for free — a move outside the official processes used for election challenges.” This week, lawmakers from ([link removed]) Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia, Virginia, and Alaska visited the Maricopa recount, as did ([link removed]) a conspiracy theorist ([link removed]) who is leading a recount in Atlanta’s Fulton County.

Here are some more headlines related to the Arizona spectacle and past election-overturning ploys:
* Arizona ballot audit backed by secretive donors linked to Trump’s inner circle (Guardian ([link removed]) )
* Election experts offer challenge to Cyber Ninjas: We can count ballots without opening boxes (Arizona Republic ([link removed]) )
* Inspired by Mike Lindell, Republicans demand information from elections officials (Arizona Mirror ([link removed]) )
* Doomed campaign to reinstate Trump comes to Antrim County, original home of the election lie (MLive.com ([link removed]) )
* Texas bar association probing attorney general’s effort to overturn 2020 election (Washington Post ([link removed]) )

On the Records

How Voting Restrictions Perpetuate Lies About Fraud
Many conservative state officials who pushed back against Trump's attempts to overturn election results have failed to speak out ([link removed]) against new voting restrictions that embrace the same voter-fraud lies. Early findings from our investigation into the origins of recent voting-restriction bills suggest that many legislators, including in ([link removed]) Texas ([link removed]) and Iowa ([link removed]) , relied on unsubstantiated allegations and fears, not evidence of actual fraud, as justifications
for imposing new hurdles to voting.

Georgia County Election Board's Opposition to Proposed Changes
Georgia's new election law not only makes it harder to vote; it also wrests authority from local election officials. Other proposals similarly threaten the autonomy of various Georgia county election boards by changing their authority or composition. We recently published emails ([link removed]) showing strong opposition to efforts to alter the Pickens County Board of Elections in Georgia.

Emails About Coronavirus-Spreading ICE Deportations
In March 2020, the Trump administration invoked Title 42 ([link removed]) , an obscure section of the U.S. health code, to turn away people arriving at the border — a move that exacerbated the spread ([link removed]) of the coronavirus not only among people on deportation flights but also within other countries. American Oversight obtained communications ([link removed]) from the State Department spanning March and April 2020 that show federal officials sharing information about deportations to Guatemala, including details about clear potential Covid-19 symptoms among migrants on the flights.

Other Stories We're Following

New audio of 2019 phone call reveals how Giuliani pressured Ukraine to investigate baseless Biden conspiracies (CNN ([link removed]) )

Report: Park Police didn’t clear Lafayette Square protesters for Trump visit (Washington Post ([link removed]) )

The secret IRS files: Trove of never-before-seen records reveal how the wealthiest avoid income tax (ProPublica ([link removed]) )

Biden Justice Department seeks to defend Trump in suit over rape denial (Washington Post ([link removed]) )

Border Protection helicopter team under investigation for rotor washing Line 3 protesters (Forum News Service ([link removed]) )

Joe Manchin is opposing big parts of Biden’s agenda as the Koch network pressures him (CNBC ([link removed]) )

Jan. 6 legal defense fund for 3 Arizona Republicans attracts donors to ‘fight back’ (Arizona Republic ([link removed]) )

Days before Rep. Mike Nearman helped protesters breach Oregon Capitol, he coached constituents just how he’d help them do it (The Oregonian ([link removed]) )

Mystery donor gives $100K-plus to DeSantis (Politico ([link removed]) )

The Covid-19 Pandemic
* Biden administration to buy 500 million Pfizer coronavirus vaccine doses to donate to the world (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Unused Johnson & Johnson Covid doses are piling up as FDA waits to see if shelf life can be extended (Kaiser Health News ([link removed]) )
* A broken system: Why the number of American Indian and Alaska Natives who have died during the coronavirus pandemic may never be known (MuckRock ([link removed]) )
* As coronavirus overtook Florida, a key health department job went unfilled (Tampa Bay Times ([link removed]) )
* Which groups are still dying of Covid in the U.S.? (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Study sheds new light on Covid-19 and mass incarceration (Harvard Gazette ([link removed]) )
* Biden’s vaccine push fails to gain traction with African Americans (Politico ([link removed]) )
* Florida and federal authorities remain at odds over cruises (Politico ([link removed]) )


Environment
* Keystone XL oil project abandoned by developer (Wall Street Journal ([link removed]) )
* Biden pushes protection for more streams and wetlands, targeting a major Trump rollback (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* Alaska Native corporation to protect its land, dealing blow to massive gold mine project (Washington Post ([link removed]) )
* As warming fuels disasters, relief often favors white people (New York Times ([link removed]) )


Immigration
* Supreme Court rules against immigrants with temporary status (Associated Press ([link removed]) )
* Another consequence of traffic stops: Deportation (Bloomberg ([link removed]) )

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