The new administration in Arizona is setting its aim on a prominent Republican who is no longer shielded by holding public office. Is this a case of ensuring law and order, as claimed, or a matter of wielding political power to punish their political rivals?
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who narrowly defeated MAGA favorite Kari Lake in a controversial election rife with accusations of electoral fraud, reportedly ordered that an ethics probe be conducted into former GOP Attorney General Mark Brnovich. His crime? Investigating allegations of fraudulent voting in 2020.
In a letter obtained by The Washington Post, Hobbs’ general counsel, Bo Dul, wrote to Chief Bar Counsel Maret Vessella: “Recent reporting and documents released by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office has exposed what is likely unethical conduct by former Attorney General Mark Brnovich.”
“This conduct — which is harmful to our democracy, our State, and the legal profession itself — appears to have coincided with the time in which Mr. Brnovich and other attorneys in his Office were actively negotiating and then participating in a diversion agreement with the State Bar…,” the letter continues.
Furthermore, Dul called on the State Bar to “carefully review” files on the state AG’s website and to accordingly “take any appropriate action.”
Also involved in the scrutiny of Brnovich is current Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat who herself narrowly pulled out a 2022 victory over her Republican opponent, Abraham Hamadeh, after a December recount. Last week, Mayes released documents pertaining to the investigations into the 2020 race.
In a statement, Mayes said: “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. The ten thousand plus hours spent diligently investigating every conspiracy theory under the sun distracted this office from its core mission of protecting the people of Arizona from real crime and fraud.”
According to the Post, Brnovich kept private a March 2022 report which stated that “virtually all claims of error and malfeasance were unfounded.” And in April, while he was a candidate in the GOP primary for a U.S. Senate seat, Brnovich published a report announcing “serious vulnerabilities” to the voting system while allegedly omitting notes by his office’s investigators that countered those claims.
But Brnovich pushed back against the new attacks from the governor.
“Katie Hobbs is wrong,” the former AG said in a statement. “This is another misguided attempt by her to defame and cancel a political opponent instead of addressing the serious issues facing our state.”
Fox News further reported:
Mayes said despite her office spending over 10,000 hours investigating voting irregularities and “alleged instances of illegal voting by high-profile election deniers,” a September 2022 summary prepared by the Arizona Attorney General Office (AAGO) 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.”
… “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 others,” her office said. “And 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.”
The Post reported that the State Bar, which can disbar and reprimand lawyers, received eight complaints regarding Brnovich that pertained to the Attorney General’s Office’s investigation into the 2020 election.
Mayes called voter fraud “rare,” arguing that “it is time to work together to defend American democracy and uphold the rule of law. It’s time for the divisiveness to stop, and it’s time for our country to heal.”
Last week, during a legislative hearing on election fraud at Arizona’s Capitol, Jacqueline Breger, the principal investigator for a California-based law firm, told the Senate Elections and Municipal Oversight & Elections Joint Committee that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Runbeck Election Services, and a slew of other public officials, from mayors to judges to county supervisors, received bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel.
According to Breger, Hobbs and the other politicians were laundering the money via false house deeds.
Senate Elections Committee Chairwoman Wendy Rogers, known as a prominent supporter of the belief that election fraud is widespread in Arizona, released a statement saying that “Any claims as serious as those presented to us should have been immediately turned in to Arizona law enforcement officials and not brought before the Legislature.”
“This was not the proper venue to discuss what could potentially be criminal activity,” Rogers added.
