Nearly all of the cash has come from organizations tied to folks aligned with former President Donald Trump and his false claims of a stolen election.
Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based agency employed by the Republicans who management the Arizona Senate to run the so-called “audit,” launched the donor record Wednesday evening — after months of secrecy. The highest contributor: The America Challenge at $3.25 million. The group is led by Patrick Byrne, the
former CEO of Overstock.com, who has authored a guide and produced a film claiming election fraud robbed Trump of the presidency.
The Washington Post also has reported that Byrne met with Trump within the Oval Workplace in December to debate methods to overturn the election outcomes.
Cyber Ninjas stated one other $605,000 got here from Voices and Votes, a gaggle established by One America Information persona Christina Bobb.
The Arizona Senate allotted $150,000 to the audit, with a 3rd of the cash paid up entrance. However it has been clear for months that public funding would cowl solely a fraction of the partisan-driven enterprise.
The evaluate of two.1 million ballots solid in Maricopa County has been broadly disparaged. Cyber Ninjas was not beforehand identified for election auditing, and Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs’ workplace has detailed a slew of safety issues with the method. Jack Sellers, the Republican chairman of the
Maricopa County’s Board of Supervisors, has accused the state Senate of “operating a grift disguised as an audit” and has referred to as the contractors it employed incompetent.
This week’s disclosure by Cyber Ninjas follows the US Home Committee on Oversight and Reform opening an investigation into the evaluate. The
committee’s demands included getting extra details about non-public funding sources.