Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-AZ) had strong words for the Senate liaison to the audit of Maricopa County presidential election votes.
Rogers blasted Senate liaison Ken Bennett after his testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee yesterday. Bennett is a former Secretary of State for the state of Arizona.
During his Thursday Committee testimony, Bennett told Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) President Joe Biden received more votes in Maricopa County, Arizona than former President Donald Trump. Senator Rogers expressed anger that Bennett did not specify what she called irregularities found by forensic auditor during his Congressional exchange with Representative Khanna.
Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney said the Arizona State Senate hired Cyber Ninjas in April to conduct an audit of the 2020 election results in Maricopa County, Arizona, even though the company had no prior federal election audit experience. “Since then, significant questions have been raised regarding the “dark money” organizations funding the audit, the impartiality of the company, and the mismanagement and insecure audit practices that have jeopardized the integrity of ballots and voting machines,” the chairwoman said.
She added that, after spending six months and nearly $7 million dollars, Cyber Ninjas’ final audit report failed to document any fraud, contrary to conspiracy theories advanced by the audit’s backers.
The Committee also invited the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, Doug Logan, to testify, Maloney noted, adding that Logan informed the Committee less than two days before the hearing he was unwilling to testify, declining the opportunity to defend his company’s audit, which she called “partisan” and “highly questionable.”
Rogers issued a three-tweet blast of Bennett, saying he didn’t represent her, her constituents or the state of Arizona. She called Bennett the wrong messenger in her second tweet., where she said questionable ballots were significantly more than was needed to win the election. Rogers finished her slam by saying, “I am sick and tired of RINOs telling me and my constituents that our voices don’t matter.” (RINO is an acronym for “Republican in name, only”).
Her assertion runs counter to a statement made by the president of her state’s Senate, Karen Fann, a Republican representing her state’s District 1. Fann wrote state Attorney General Mark Brnovich saying there are several items in the forensic audit report that merit the attention of his office. But, Fann said the vote count was spot on.
“The auditor’s final hand count — which quadruple-checked every single one of the 2.1 million ballots — matches Maricopa County’s official machine count,” Fann informed Brnovich. “This is the most important and encouraging finding of the audit.”
The Bennett testimony that drew the ire of Rogers was elicited by California’s Khanna, who asked Bennett did the audit show that Biden got more votes in Maricopa County than Trump. “Yes, the audit shows that,” responded Bennett.
“Do you have any reason to believe, today, that Joe Biden did not win the state of Arizona?” Khanna asked.
“Not other than the question ballots, question envelopes, …” began Bennett before Khanna interrupted to ask,
“Do you think he is the legitimately elected president?”
“Yes,” replied Bennett.
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