Tag Archives: Arizona

CNN reports: A former top Republican official in Arizona, who rejected pressure from Donald Trump and his allies following the former president’s 2020 election defeat, told CNN Wednesday night that he has spoken with the FBI as part of the ongoing criminal probe related to efforts to overturn the vote. Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers revealed the interview with …

Arizona Central reports: U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office as recently as May as part of his investigation into the events leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Smith’s office also talked to GOP lawmakers in the spring about events in the wake of the 2020 presidential …

The Washington Post reports: In a phone call in late 2020, President Donald Trump tried to pressure Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) to overturn the state’s presidential election results, saying that if enough fraudulent votes could be found it would overcome Trump’s narrow loss in Arizona, according to three people familiar with the call. Trump also repeatedly asked Vice President …

NBC News reports: An Arizona county elections director quit Tuesday, accusing the local elections department of caving to “a faction of the Republican party” and failing to protect her from “intimidation.” “I have watched as you idly stood by when I was attacked,” Geraldine Roll, the Pinal County elections director, wrote in an email to the county’s manager, Leo Lew. …

The Washington Post reports: The lawsuit by Stephen Richer, a Republican who has served as recorder of Maricopa County since 2021, marks the most aggressive attempt to hold Lake and her allies accountable for election-related misinformation. It comes amid other efforts to make right-wing figures and media answerable for spreading election fabrications. In the complaint, Richer alleges that Lake, her …

Tucson’s CBS affiliate reports: Federal court documents paint Eric Ridenour, the suspect in the Douglas church fires, as a man with a violent criminal history who doesn’t like women or gay men preaching. Authorities have said Ridenour set fires at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and First Presbyterian Church in Douglas on May 22, 2023. Both buildings were extensively damaged. St. …

The Arizona Republic reports: Arizona won’t be the latest state to limit students from using restrooms that fit their gender identity after Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs on Thursday vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would have put legal requirements on public school bathrooms. Senate Bill 1040 is “yet another discriminatory act against LGBTQ+ youth passed by the majority at the state …

NBC News reports: A Pride flag was taken down and burned outside of a City Hall building in Tempe, Arizona, officials said Tuesday. The flag-burning comes months after a bomb threat was made to an LGBTQ-owned coffee shop in Tempe, a city of 186,000 people that’s about 10 miles east of Phoenix. The flag — which flew alongside the American, …

The Washington Post reports: After facing an onslaught of harassment and violent threats for certifying the results of the 2020 election, a Republican on the governing board of Arizona’s largest county will not seek reelection during the 2024 cycle. Bill Gates, a longtime conservative and Harvard-educated attorney, told The Washington Post that he intends to serve his term through the …

The Daily Beast reports: Speaking ahead of her “Defend America” rally, Lake told conservative TV network Real America’s Voice: “Our attorney’s just filed a notice for appeal.” She went on to explain that her team “now have the video” to support claims of misconduct in Maricopa County. “We are not stopping,” Lake added. “I will never back down. That election …

Courthouse News reports: Alan Dershowitz says he was mistakenly listed as the lead attorney in Kari Lake’s suit against the Arizona secretary of state and supervisors of both Maricopa and Pima Counties. Rather than leading the legal effort to disrupt trust in Arizona’s elections, Dershowitz says he spent “merely three or four hours” on the case as an advisor to …

The Arizona Republic reports: Former Republican candidate for governor Kari Lake on Tuesday pledged to appeal her latest courtroom loss in her effort to unseat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. “We’re also going to continue to, not only raise funds, but energy, for our legal team to continue pushing our case to the United States Supreme Court,” Lake said in a …

The Arizona Republic reports: A Maricopa County judge has affirmed — again — Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ win in November and rejected Republican Kari Lake’s claims that improper signature verification and misconduct affected the outcome. The ruling comes after Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson heard three days of testimony and argument in his Mesa courtroom May 17-19. That …

Axios reports: An Arizona activist group agreed Sunday to settle a lawsuit accusing its activists of voter intimidation at ballot drop boxes in the state. The League of Women Voters of Arizona filed the suit against a group that formerly called itself Clean Elections USA, whose activists gathered at drop boxes last year in efforts they claimed were to prevent …

NBC News reports: Police arrested a student after he allegedly brought an AR-15 and ammunition to a Phoenix high school on Friday, authorities said. The student is facing “serious felony charges” after allegedly bringing the semi-automatic rifle — the weapon behind a dozen of the 21 deadliest mass shootings in the U.S. since 2006 — to Bostrom High School, where …

The Arizona Republic reports: Kari Lake on Wednesday opened her (second) trial challenging the 2022 election … with a complete and total fizzle. Her attorney, Kurt Olsen, told the judge he’d be presenting evidence that Maricopa County didn’t verify the voter signatures on “hundreds of thousands” of early ballots, instead hiring signature reviewers who just went through the motions while …

The Arizona Mirror reports: Kari Lake will have one last chance to argue in court that her 17,000-vote loss 2022 election should be overturned — but to actually do so, she will have to prove conclusively that Maricopa County brazenly failed to verify tens of thousands of early voter signatures and that, in doing so, the county affected the outcome …

Axios reports: Former GOP Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake met with multiple Republican senators on Thursday amid speculation she is seriously weighing a 2024 Senate bid, Axios has learned. Lake narrowly lost her gubernatorial race in 2022, but is seen as a top GOP contender to win the seat held by moderate former Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). Lake — …

Arizona Central reports: A Flagstaff judge has dismissed the restraining order filed by Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers against a reporter who visited her two Phoenix-area homes while gathering facts for an article. Flagstaff Justice of the Peace Howard Grodman dismissed the injunction against harassment after a three-hour hearing Wednesday where both Rogers and reporter Camryn Sanchez testified. Grodman said …

The Arizona Mirror reports: Supporters of former state Rep. Liz Harris are irate with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, and they let the board members know that on Wednesday, with one of them even falsely accusing a Phoenix city councilman of opening the board meeting with a prayer to the devil. The Arizona House of Representatives ousted Harris on …