Secretary of State Katie Hobbs of Arizona has requested her state’s attorney general to look into electoral meddling by President Donald Trump and his supporters.
Hobbs says the messages “involve clear attempts to convince supervisors to decline to comply with their duties,” which she believes may have been illegal under Arizona law.
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She went on to quote a report from last week that said Trump’s surrogates, Rudy Giuliani, and later the White House itself sent text messages and voicemails.
“If you get a chance, would you please give me a call,” Giuliani said in one recorded voicemail. “I have a few things I’d like to talk over with you. Maybe we can get this thing fixed up. You know, I really think it’s a shame that Republicans sort of is both in this kind of situation. And I think there may be a nice way to resolve this for everybody.”
The White House switchboard worker has called them twice, saying “the president is ready for your call” and instructing them to call back.
“The reporting also includes firsthand statements from the victims of this potential crime,” Hobbs said. She cited at least one potential felony charge under Arizona law.
“As you said just last week, ‘Fair elections are the cornerstone of our republic, and they start with rational laws that protect both the right to vote and the accuracy of the results,'” Hobbs wrote in her letter to the state’s attorney general. “Arizona law protects election officials from those who would seek to interfere with their sacred duties to ascertain and certify the will of the voters.”
According to a Phoenix TV station, managers of the GOP partisan audit of the Arizona presidential vote disregarded accusations of sexual harassment at the operation for weeks.
According to CBS station Channel 5, which cited numerous women’s stories, workers were compelled to suffer the harassment despite filing formal complaints.
Seven more written complaints were given to management by “victims and witnesses” who were concerned by the harassment, according to one source.
The accusations concentrated on one audit worker at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, who was tasked with reviewing 2.1 million ballots in Maricopa County.
The recount, which includes Phoenix, was started months ago by state Senate Republicans and focused solely on Democratic-won contests.
“Any time that he would come across someone he considered attractive … he would harass them — things like trying to demand dates, things like making sexual comments,” the source said, referring to the man who has been the subject of the most complaints.
Reported complaints of sexual harassment are only the most recent issues in a cascade of serious problems with the Arizona "fraudit." https://t.co/1WlhpiAID4
— HuffPost Women (@HuffPostWomen) July 4, 2021
Unwanted groping and other physical approaches, she claimed, resulted from the statements.
The name of the man accused of harassment was known to the TV station, but it was not released, nor were the identities of the women who complained.
The man allegedly made “many inappropriate and unwelcome comments about my appearance,” according to one woman.
Arizona Repugs recount backfires. Will be evident in BLUE Wave at midterms. For at least fifth time no fraud found.
— MaryCarol Herrington (@speknmymind) June 29, 2021
“When I didn’t return a compliment or react to his flirting, he would insult me,” wrote another. She also expressed her dissatisfaction with unwanted touching.
Others claimed he was enraged and violent, according to Channel 5.
“He would seemingly randomly have angry outbursts,” wrote one witness. “This issue seemed to stem from some type of anger over women having authority over him,” another wrote.
This is not an audit! It is a fraud, in plain sight, that violates laws! Unfortunately, the Justice Department has done nothing to prevent this fraudulent recount! Who is paying for it?
Arizona ballot audit shows signs of backfiring on GOP https://t.co/zKiekQVS37 via @politico
— Aimé Bayle (@abayle) June 29, 2021
According to CBS 5, the complaints and witness testimonies were filed in early May, yet the male worker stayed on the job for another month.
“We told upper management, and yet he was allowed to stay on the floor for weeks,” the inside source told Channel 5.
State Senate President Karen Fann (R) forwarded to Channel 5 a statement from the audit’s “lead vendor” (who was not identified) stating that no documented complaints about harassment were ever received and that the “lead vendor” was unaware of any further concerns.
