The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has released documents related to the criminal investigations that stemmed from the 2020 election in Arizona. Many believe the documents show that former Attorney General Mark Brnovich withheld the findings to serve the best interests of his U.S. Senate Republican Primary run.
The findings released on Wednesday show that investigators found sloppiness and a handful of possible misdemeanors, but that more often than not, the allegations made by various individuals and groups were “unfounded.”
If Brnovich did have a political or campaign motive for implying his staff had found problems with the 2020 election, it didn’t work to his benefit. He finished a distant third in the GOP primary, losing badly to two political newcomers — Jim Lamon, and primary winner Blake Masters, who was then soundly defeated by the Democrat incumbent Senator Mark Kelly.
According to the Arizona Attorney General Office (AAGO), under Brnovich, agents and support staff spent over 10,000 hours investigating voting irregularities and alleged instances of illegal voting by high-profile individuals, a September 2022 summary prepared by AAGO’s Special Investigations Section stated:
In each instance and in each matter, the aforementioned parties did not provide any evidence to support their allegations. The information that was provided was speculative in many instances and when investigated by our agents and support staff, was found to be inaccurate.
Complaints and allegations submitted to the AAGO by members of the public were also largely unsupported by factual evidence or found to be mischaracterizations when researched by agents and support staff. These allegations included the counting of duplicate votes, satellites controlled by the Italian military changing votes to favor President Biden, bamboo ballots, and dead people voting in numbers that affected the outcome of the election, among other claims.
Arizona’s current Attorney General, Kris Mayes stated, “The results of this exhaustive and extensive investigation show what we have suspected for over two years – the 2020 election in Arizona was conducted fairly and accurately by elections officials.
Mayes noted that “while a small number of cases were submitted for prosecution review due to these investigations, these numbers align with historical trends. They do not indicate widespread fraud or conspiracy related to the 2020 election.”
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer was especially outraged by the characterization of his staff as uncooperative by Brnovich’s team of investigators.
“Our team at the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office did everything possible to work with former Attorney General Brnovich’s office and provide them with the records, information and resources needed to complete their investigation,” the Recorder added. “In fact, despite what the interim report stated, it’s clear the former Attorney General’s staff and investigators agree that our office was ‘cooperative and responsive to [their] requests’. I’m pleased to see the notes and documents released today distinctly show the ways in which our office cooperated with and supported the Attorney General’s office in the development of last year’s interim report.”
Jennifer Wright, who formerly led Brnovich’s Election Integrity Unit, disputed Richer’s claim of cooperation.
“Regardless, the Sept ‘22 criminal report appears to have a lot of places with “undetermined” outcomes due to lack of ability to review records under the control of “election officials,” tweeted Wright. “Doesn’t seem very cooperative to me.”
Stephen seems to forget that there were two investigations: a criminal and civil. But let’s break this down a bit. https://t.co/yfe7CpOWfQ
— Jen Wright (@JenWEsq) February 22, 2023