Uncovering the facts,
Holding government accountable.
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:
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:
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.
Part of Investigation: