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The Big Story
The more we learn about the origins and operations of the Arizona Senate's partisan recount of Maricopa County ballots, the clearer it becomes that those who instigated the exercise did not have the public's interest in mind. And as we outlined last week, we've already learned a great deal.
Election experts again warned in recent days that any results from the sham "audit" will not be credible. Professional auditors have questioned whether the process can even be called an audit. And this week, more news of the lengths former President Trump and his allies were willing to go to subvert democracy in the weeks after his election loss provide further evidence of the climate of lies that gave rise to the Arizona Senate's actions:
- According to records obtained by the Arizona Republic, Trump tried to speak directly with the chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors around the same time as his infamous call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump asked him to "find" enough votes to upend that state's election results.
- The documents also reveal Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward's attempt to pressure the supervisors to "stop the counting" or delay certification of the election.
- Records previously obtained by American Oversight revealed that Senate President Karen Fann had been in contact with the former president as well as Rudy Giuliani at this time.
American Oversight is suing for additional records related to the "audit," including records from Cyber Ninjas, the firm hired by the Senate to conduct a public function of significant interest. The Senate has refused to turn over those documents, and has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit. At the conclusion of a hearing on Wednesday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Kemp said he would issue a written ruling in the next week and a half regarding the Senate's motion to dismiss.
Meanwhile, the partisan election-review trend keeps gaining traction in other states, with Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano — who had traveled to Washington, D.C., for the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the Capitol attack, and had even organized busloads to the event — sent letters to multiple counties, seeking election materials for a similar "forensic investigation." The lie of a stolen election is also becoming a focus of candidates running for Congress in next year's midterms:
- From the Washington Post: "Of the nearly 700 Republicans who have filed initial paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run next year for either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives, at least a third have embraced Trump's false claims about his defeat."
On the Records
Trump Ag Secretary Perdue's Financial Disclosures
Last week, the Washington Post published a deeply reported article about the financial dealings of former USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue — namely, a little-known real estate deal undertaken in the weeks between Perdue's nomination and his confirmation. Perdue's federal ethics agreements have also drawn scrutiny for other reasons: Late last year, American Oversight called upon the USDA's inspector general to investigate whether the Trump administration took an action that may have earned Perdue millions, and we've also laid out in detail here a number of unexplained oddities from his financial disclosures.
South Carolina AG's Communications About Election-Overturning Lawsuit
In December, Texas filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the results of the election in four swing states — a failed effort that nevertheless garnered the support of 17 other states, including South Carolina. We obtained emails in which that state's attorney general, Alan Wilson, conferred with a former North Carolina chief justice as well as the leader of the right-wing legal group Alliance Defending Freedom. Details here.
Trump's Antifa 'Terrorist' Designation
Last May, Trump tweeted that he would designate antifa as a terrorist organization, despite the lack of legal authority to do so as well as the fact that antifa isn't a single unified organization. We asked the Justice Department and the FBI for any directives or analyses regarding such a designation; the FBI told us it found no responsive records, suggesting that Trump's tweet was merely divisive rhetoric.
Other Stories We're Following
The Coronavirus Pandemic
- Delta, as expected, is now the dominant virus variant in the U.S., the CDC estimates (New York Times)
- The real toll from prison Covid cases may be higher than reported (New York Times)
- From Wuhan to Paris to Milan, the search for 'patient zero' (Washington Post)
- Virus cases are surging at crowded immigration detention centers in the U.S. (New York Times)
- 15 million people in the U.S. have missed their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine, CDC says (Washington Post)
National News
- Hunt for Capitol attackers still on 6 months after Jan. 6 (Associated Press)
- Juul is fighting to keep its e-cigarettes on the U.S. market (New York Times)
- Documents reveal Erik Prince's $10 billion plan to make weapons and create a private army in Ukraine (Time)
- Russia 'Cozy Bear' hackers breached GOP as ransomware attack hit (Bloomberg)
- Pentagon cancels $10 billion JEDI cloud contract that Amazon and Microsoft were fighting over (CNBC)
- U.S. leaves its last Afghan base, effectively ending operations (New York Times)
- Republicans weigh 'cracking' cities to doom Democrats (Politico)
In the States
- Texas Gov. Abbott includes voting restrictions, critical race theory and rules for transgender student athletes on special legislative session agenda (Texas Tribune)
- Ohio Gov. DeWine signs bill creating partisan races for state's top court (Cincinnati Enquirer)
- A Wisconsin man is scanning ballots and suing a count clerk as he launches his own election review (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
- How GOP laws in Montana could complicate voting for Native Americans (New York Times)
Trump Administration Accountability
- Trump wanted to use the Covid-19 pandemic to call off the 2020 election, Wolff book says (Business Insider)
- Trump ag secretary Sonny Perdue personally lobbied to keep meatpacking plants open during pandemic, emails show (Investigate Midwest)
- Mike Pompeo's taxpayer-funded 'Madison Dinners' cost over $20,000 more than disclosed (Washington Examiner)
- Trump charged Secret Service nearly $10,200 in May for agents' rooms (Washington Post)
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