Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House Republicans’ new GOP conference chair, said the Justice Department is trying to block the Arizona election audit, as allies of former President Donald Trump pour millions into the recount.
‘The Biden Department of Justice is trying to block that audit. That is unconstitutional, from my perspective,’ Stefanik told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News‘ Sunday Morning Futures. ‘Our states, constitutionally, are responsible for writing their state’s elections law.’
Stefanik’s comments come as ABC News reported how key Trump figures are backing the controversial audit, with former White House strategist Steve Bannon giving it publicity on his video podcast and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne aiming to raise $2.8 million to go toward the effort.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House GOP Conference Chair, said Sunday that she supported the ongoing election audit in Arizona, ordered by Arizona’s GOP-led Senate, and claimed the Department of Justice is trying to block it
Key Trump figures are backing the controversial audit, with former White House strategist Steve Bannon (left) giving it publicity on his video podcast and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne (right) aiming to raise $2.8 million to go toward the effort
Earlier this month, the Justice Department warned that the audit, which was ordered by the Republican-run Arizona Senate, could be in violation of federal voting and civil rights laws.
The audit is looking exclusively at 2.1 million ballots from Arizona’s largest county, Maricopa, where a majority of voters in the traditionally Republican state selected Democrat Joe Biden for president, making him the first Democrat to win the state in 24 years.
Trump has continued to claim, falsely, that the only way for that to have happened is due to widespread fraud.
Pamela Karlan, principal deputy assistant Attorney General for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, wrote a letter to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, a Republican, warning her that turning election materials over to Cyber Ninjas, the audit’s contractor, could be in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, according to CNN.
Karlan added that there were ‘at least issues of potential non-compliance with federal laws enforced by the Department.’
The first, Karlan said, was based on reports that suggested ballots, election systems and election materials in the Maricopa County audit are ‘no longer under the ultimate control of state and local election officials and are not being adequately safeguarded by contractors at an insecure facility, and are at risk of being lost, stolen, altered, compromised or destroyed.’
‘We have a concern that Maricopa County election records, which are required by federal law to be retained and preserved, are no longer under the ultimate control of elections officials, are not being adequately safeguarded by contractors, and are at risk of damage or loss,’ Karlan said.
Karlan mentioned how Cyber Ninjas said they planned to ‘identify voter registrations that did not make sense, and then knock on doors to confirm if valid voters actually lived at the stated address’ saying that raised concerns of voter intimidation.
‘The Department enforces a number of federal statutes that prohibit intimidation of persons for voting or attempting to vote,’ Karlan said. ‘Past experience with similar investigative efforts around the country has raised concerns that they can be directed at minority voters, which potentially can implicate the anti-intimidation prohibitions of the Voting Rights Act.’
Stefanik, who became closely allied with Trump during his first impeachment in 2019, was elevated to the third most powerful Republican in the House last week, replacing Trump critic, Rep. Liz Cheney.
‘I support the audit,’ the New York Republican told Bartiromo on Sunday. ‘Transparency is important for the American people.’
‘And, again, this should be a nonpartisan issue. Whether you’re Republican, Democrat, independent, or conservative, transparency is important,’ she continued. ‘And the audit was passed by the Arizona state Senate.’