Emails show Trump and Giuliani personally paid for conspiracy-driven ‘review’ of Arizona vote

Recent emails between senators from Arizona reveal that Donald Trump and his former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani have personally urged state Republican officials to push for a highly partisan recount of the 2020 election in Maricopa County.

The emails were exposed by the US watchdog, which criticized the exam and called it a “false crusade”. Washington Post I reported the content of the emails.

In a December 2 email, Arizona Senate Speaker Karen Fine told two voters that she has spoken to Mr. Giuliani “at least six times” in the past two weeks.

Another voter warned Ms. Fan in late December that the new American national movement would invite her because she did not support Trump enough.

Ms. Phan assured him that she would “do everything she could to complete the forensic investigation”.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with Rudy Giuliani [sic] Ms. Fan has been writing for the past few weeks to make this happen. “I get his full support and a personal phone call from President Trump thanking us for urging us to prove any fraud.”

Arizona became an early hot spot in the 2020 election after Fox News invited the state to Joe Biden, shocking conservatives who were certain the red-tipped state in general would go to Trump.

Since then, pro-Trump conservatives have been desperately seeking evidence of widespread electoral fraud in the state, but to no avail.

Austin Evers, executive director of US Oversight, said the emails are clear evidence that the goal of the review is to further prove Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.

“The more we learn, the clearer it becomes that this is not a review, it is a misguided partisan move by some of the most pessimistic actors our democracy has ever known,” Evers said in a statement. “With each new email, the paper trail confirms that the real goal of this process is to perpetuate Donald Trump’s big lie about stolen elections and to undermine faith in our democracy.”

The emails also indicated the desperation and reluctance of Republican voters to acknowledge Trump’s defeat.

In an April 10 email, a person named Rachel Griffin told Ms Fan that if they failed to provide evidence of fraud, Arizona lawmakers would be voted out of office.

We are not treated like fools. “We will make sure none of you are re-elected unless proven fraudulent,” Griffin wrote. “It is no longer acceptable for you to scold everyone. We want results and we want them now.”

Ms Phan assured the woman that lawmakers are working to implement the review, saying: “Our efforts have been sabotaged at every step, but we are not giving up!”

This answer contrasts sharply with another answer given by Ms. Fan to a voter who said she was “appalled, insulted and stunned” about the use of taxpayer money for a “fraudulent audit”.

Ms. Fan assured her that the trial should confirm, not undermine, Biden’s victory in the state.

“You are wrong there. Biden won. 45% of Arizona voters think there is a problem with the electoral system. The control lies in disproving these theories or finding ways to improve the system.”

Maricopa County’s control has been criticized for a lack of transparency and failure to comply with state rules governing elections and recounts.

And Cyber ​​Ninja, the group overseeing the exam, is led by an outspoken pro-Trump man who has repeated the president’s lies about widespread electoral fraud in the 2020 election, which was dropped in mid-May.

At the current rate, the recount does not end until August.