Democrat Attorney General Kris Mayes issued a press release Thursday criticizing her predecessor Mark Brnovich for not agreeing with two of his employees that there was no election fraud. Now, Maricopa County officials and others skeptical of election fraud are chiming in and agreeing with her.
Additionally, eight bar complaints were filed against Brnovich immediately after her press release, including one by Governor Katie Hobbs. The 65 Project routinely files bar complaints against conservative attorneys engaged in election integrity issues.
In a statement, Clint Hickman, chair of the Maricopa County Supervisors, called Brnovich’s investigation of the 2020 election problems “a gross misuse of his elected office and an appalling waste of taxpayer dollars,” saying he was “absolutely disgusted.”
Hickman was asked how he felt about Mayes’ press release during an interview with KTAR radio talk show host Mike Broomhead. Hickman said Brnovich was “speaking in tongues.”
He added, “I had anger, every sentence” and said some of that anger was because Brnovich “appear[ed] on right-wing radio.”
Hickman said, “I’m disgusted.”
The Maricopa County supervisor chair said, “Now I’m getting questions about what does the board want to do about disbarment? Why does it have to be us people, us board members that make a decision — we’re public servants. Why isn’t the entire legal community coming out and saying … this is my anger … then we take the abuse. I’m calling out to the legal profession…”
Hickman added, “It was not an audit at all.”
He expressed his hope that it would help his legacy.
“I hope it vindicates me both with the citizens of Maricopa County and the state, I certainly would like to hear it,” Hickman said.
Brnovich’s Election Integrity Unit civil attorney Jen Wright pushed back on Twitter against Mayes’ press release this past week, stating that due to Maricopa County officials stonewalling their office’s requests for information, Brnovich was unable to release the report from the employee stating there was no election fraud since it was incomplete.
When Broomhead asked Hickman about Wright’s response to the press release, Hickman denied knowing what he was talking about.
“I know nothing about that, that’s untrue … all I ever saw was complete and total cooperation, and if they said we withheld it … why hasn’t that made the news?” he said.
Hickman added, “Every time we were requested things it was definitely provided.”
Maricopa County Supervisor Thomas Galvin gave an interview to The Gaydos and Chad Show, a progressive program on KTAR. He said Brnovich’s investigation into election fraud resulted in “election workers put through absolute hell.”
Galvin said, “This state has become a laughingstock over the last couple years,” denouncing “lies and mistruths and misinformation” which he found “vile, disgusting.”
He said, “It’s damaging to the state, it’s going to take years to recover.”
He contended that “the election denying stuff had died down” until Brnovich’s interim report came out, which “set off conspiracy theories and lies.” He criticized Brnovich for going on Steve Bannon’s War Room show, which he described as “fanning the flames” and “based on lies.”
Galvin said, “He’s put the party in peril now since it’s dominated by these grifters, these liars, these people who dominate using fake information.”
He blamed “conspiracy theory blogs and websites” and expressed anger that Kari Lake is raising money for her ongoing election litigation.
Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates tweeted, “It is shocking and inexcusable that the former AG of AZ suppressed the truth his investigators uncovered about the 2020 election only to later release an ‘interim report’ that raised doubts about the Nov. 2020 Maricopa County election that he knew were false.”
It is shocking and inexcusable that the former AG of AZ suppressed the truth his investigators uncovered about the 2020 election only to later release an ‘interim report’ that raised doubts about the Nov. 2020 Maricopa County election that he knew were false. https://t.co/M4ZcSpKFUF
— Bill Gates (@billgatesaz) February 22, 2023
Democrat Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, who Brnovich took to court in 2020 to stop him from mailing out ballots to voters who had not requested them, said during an interview with The Gaydos and Chad Show that Brnovich should be disbarred.
“He was the worst kind of a coward,” Fontes said.
Fontes added that not releasing the report from his employee was “disgusting, one of the most despicable things I’ve ever seen … he lied about it.”
Fontes said Brnovich tried to “perpetuate the lie.”
He said, “I’m really, really, really angry.”
At the same time, Fontes praised himself, “This is proof positive that I did my job well.”
At that point, Fontes said something indecipherable, and the hosts reminded him not to use profanity. He said, “We now have proof positive was a lie.”
He repeatedly referred to believing there was election fraud as a lie, accusing Brnovich of “parrot[ing] this nonsensical lie.”
Fontes denounced the “poopshow he left her [Mayes] in that office.”
He dismissed concerns about election fraud as “what the folks without facts are saying.”
He said “some of us got tricked” and reassured listeners there was no election fraud.
“We’re gonna be good Arizona,” Fontes said.
Mayes told AZ Family’s reporter Dennis Welch that it was not her place to call to disbar Brnovich.
Progressive activist attorney Tom Ryan, whose brother is a Maricopa County Superior Court judge who refused to grant a Republican Party request to extend voting hours on Election Day due to the voting problems, told AZ Family that Brnovich should be disbarred. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, who asked for sanctions against Kari Lake and Mark Finchem’s attorneys for filing a lawsuit attempting to halt the use of voting machine tabulators, said during a press conference that there wasn’t evidence to overturn the 2020 election.
Several of the Maricopa County officials complained about receiving death threats and harassment, insinuating that they received them because Brnovich did not release the report from his employee. Brnovich also regularly receives death threats, but doesn’t go public about them like Maricopa County officials and other electeds.
Brnovich stated in response to the criticism that he was “proud of the work” his office did “with the election integrity unit” that the Arizona legislature created.
“While subjected to severe criticism from all sides of the political spectrum during the course of our investigations, we did our due diligence to run all complaints to ground. Where we were able to debunk rumors and conspiracies, we did so,” he said. “Nevertheless, we also identified areas we believe the legislature and county officials should address to ensure confidence in future elections.”
In response to the bar complaint filed by Hobbs, Brnovich told The Arizona Sun Times, “Katie Hobbs is wrong. This is another misguided attempt by her to defame and cancel a political opponent instead of addressing the serious issues facing our state.”
According to The Arizona Republic, Joe Hengemuehler, chief communications officer for the Bar, said in an email, “The State Bar has received charges against Mark Brnovich related to the election audit issue. The charges (eight) are in the prescreening process. There is no further public information available.” Hengemuehler told KJZZ the complaints were related to the election audit.
The 65 Project and public officials may have filed the bar complaints. While Brnovich was litigating Brnovich v. DNC, which successfully upheld Arizona’s ban on ballot harvesting, Hobbs filed bar complaints against him and several of his staff attorneys related to election integrity. Brnovich and his staffers were cleared of the complaints by the Bar.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Mark Brnovich” by Mark Brnovich. Background Photo “Courtroom” by Carol M. Highsmith.
Nice little Trumpster sycophant aren’t you?
Try to dismiss it or downplay it much as you like, the facts are clear: Brnovich lied, Trump lied, everyone who claims the election was “rigged” or “stolen” LIES!