45th President Donald Trump released a statement questioning whether Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich – who is now running for U.S. Senate – will keep his promise to examine the findings of the Maricopa County audit of the 2020 election, or whether his initial actions are “just politics as usual.”
Trump asked when Brnovich is “going to rule on all of the Election Fraud and large-scale Election Irregularities that wait before him?”
“People want to know whether or not Attorney General Brnovich is up to doing the right thing,” said Trump. “Or is it just politics as usual.”
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President Donald J. Trump:
“When is the Attorney General of Arizona going to rule on all of the Election Fraud and large-scale Election Irregularities that wait before him? People want to know whether or not Attorney General Brnovich is up to doing the right thing, or… pic.twitter.com/SG3vjZgdHx
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) March 18, 2022
The results of the Maricopa County audit have become a lightning issue for many Republicans in Arizona. After the findings were reported to the Arizona Senate, they were referred to Brnovich to determine whether the issues raised in the audit merit a criminal investigation.
Initially, Brnovich indicated that he would move forward and make a determination of what – if any – actions could be taken against those who allegedly mismanaged the 2020 election.
He sent a letter of spoliation to Maricopa County last year, instructing them to preserve documents and communications relevant to the 2020 election. Since then, however, Brnovich’s action has been slow.
Brnovich finds himself as the favorite to win a packed Republican primary contest that also includes Jim Lamon, a Republican donor who grew wealthy in solar energy, and Blake Masters, the Peter Thiel acolyte who authored the famous book “Zero to One”.
Thus far, Trump is yet to make an endorsement, even as polls suggest Brnovich to be the likely favorite.
In his statement, Trump appeared to suggest that Brnovich could be more likely receive his endorsement if he acts on the audit’s findings. He compared Brnovich to “the strongly Trump-Endorsed Kari Lake, who is running for Governor.”
Trump noted that Lake “has made the Fraudulent 2020 Election a primary part of her campaign” and, potentially as a result, “is leading by massive numbers over her weak RINO competitors.”
Trump and the majority of Republican voters believe that enough fraud occurred in 2020 to change the election results, and the Arizona Senate conducted what was called a forensic audit in Maricopa County to determine if this is true.
That audit’s findings did not make a judgment on whether the election was called accurately, but highlighted a number of findings that, when combined, exceed Joe Biden’s margin of victory in the state.
The results have been dismissed by establishment members of both political parties and most of the media.
